The Size Distribution of the Kuiper Belt Objects

Abstract

The size distribution is determined directly from the current known Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). We found that there is a peak for the size distribution around 230 km in diameter. For the objects larger than 230 km, the KBOs populate as $N(s) \propto s^{-4}$ as we see in Jewitt et al. (1998). For the objects smaller than 230 km, we found $N(s) \propto s^{3}$. This result from the current observational data is new and very different from the conventional concept of the KBO size distribution. Though the true size distribution might change from what we have after more KBOs be discovered, we argue that the existence of a peak around 150 km to 250 km is likely.