Regions In Space: Scattered Disc

The Scattered Disc is a sparse, distant region of icy minor planets with highly eccentric and inclined orbits, serving as a source for short-period comets.

It overlaps with the Kuiper Belt but extends outward to near 500 AU from the Sun, with objects scattered by gravitational interactions with Neptune.

Also spelled "Scattered Disk," it was named to describe the scattered nature of its objects' orbits, first recognized in the late 1990s through discoveries like 1996 TL66.

Significant events include the identification of Eris in 2005, the largest known scattered disc object. NASA's New Horizons flyby of Arrokoth in 2019 revealed details about these primitive bodies and Solar System formation.