The Kuiper Belt & The Cosmological Principle

     The Cosmological Principle states, “Viewed on a sufficiently large scale, the properties of the Universe are the same for all observers” William Keel.  The implications allow us to establish a universal foundation on which we can study the universe around us.  If each galaxy played by different rules, the laws of physics would apply only to earth, in effect there is nothing special about our place in the universe. 

     This allows us to study the rest of the universe, using the information we have obtained from studying our own Solar System to compare to phenomena that we see in other systems.  Allowing us to assign meaning to what we see with if not certainty a measure of accuracy. 

     The Kuiper Belt is no exception, Solar Systems, would have to form in a similar way, therefore if we can see Kuiper like belts in other star systems, especially younger systems we can gain more evidence for our current theory.  That which states the Kuiper Belt is home to planetesimals and other small icy bodies from the days of planetary accretion that never formed into planets.

     In the renowned Fomalhaut System, we can see a star system comparable to our own when the Earth was still in a period of accretion.  It was hoped that when the Hubble telescope was pointed at Fomalhaut by Paul Kalas (University of California, Berkeley) and his 2 colleagues that they would see the dim glow of orbiting planets.  Instead, they saw this:

     The picture below is a comparison between the Kuiper Belt and that of Fomalhaut:

     There is thought to be a “giant” sized planet similar in function to Neptune but much farther out from its parent star at 50-70 AU’s whereas Neptune is 30 AU’s away from our sun.

     It is thought that by studying the developing ‘belt” we will uncover the secrets that have shaped our own, which are still shrouded in mystery.

Sources:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/3310401.html?page=1&c=y
http://english.netmassimo.com/files/Herschel_Fomalhaut_illustration.jpg
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/39/image/a/format/web_print/
The Road To Galaxy Formation by William Keel (Book)