Page "Kuiper belt" Paragraph 10

The literature is inconsistent in the usage of the terms " scattered disc " and " Kuiper belt ".

For some, they are distinct populations ; for others, the scattered disc is part of the Kuiper belt.

Authors may even switch between these two uses in a single publication.

Because the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center, the body responsible for cataloguing minor planets in the Solar System, makes the distinction, the current editorial choice for Wikipedia articles on the trans-Neptunian region is to make this distinction as well.

This choice means that, on Wikipedia, Eris, the largest known trans-Neptunian object, is not part of the Kuiper belt, and so Pluto becomes the largest Kuiper belt object.