Keith’s note: Last week I posted some fascinating news – our solar system may actually have a second Kuiper Belt. The news originated from a New Horizons Science Team meeting. While that finding is rather tentative and is based on ground-based observations, the person making the presentation was a mission co-investigator. Now, instead of simply heading out into interstellar space, New Horizons is going to be heading toward a possible second Kuiper Belt in the late 2020s/early 2030’s time frame. Who knows – perhaps there will be a possible flyby target. But wait: just as this big planetary science news is emerging the NASA Science Mission Directorate wants to turn this planetary science mission – the only one that can visit this region of space in the coming decades – into a heliophysics mission instead. Go figure. So how did we get here? (More below)

Keith’s note: “In a meeting today of the NASA New Horizons Science Team a presentation strongly suggests that our solar system actually has a second Kuiper Belt. And New Horizons will be visiting it in a few years.” More