Introduction

• The Kuiper belt or Edgeworth-Kuiper belt or Leuschner-Leonard belt or
  the `disk formerly known as the Kuiper belt' was predicted because it was needed as a source of comets (Fernandez).
  • Particularly, it was needed to explain the inclinations of the Jupiter-family comets.
    (Duncan, Quinn, & Tremaine)
    • Median inclination only 11^O.
  • Also, it was needed to explain the origin of Chiron.
    • Dynamical lifetime is very short (Oikawa & Everhart).
    • First Centaur.

• The basic idea is:
  • Objects slowly leak out of the Kuiper belt. (Levison & Duncan, Holman & Wisdom)
  • They get scattered by the planets. Centaurs.
  • Some enter the inner solar system Jupiter-family comets.

• Continued study of this process led to:
  1. prediction of the scattered disk.
  2. estimates of physical lifetimes of JFCs.
  3. ages of giant planet satellites' surfaces.