The Kuiper belt is a remnant of the primordial Solar System. Small, sub-kilometre-sized, Kuiper belt objects elude direct detection, but the signature of their occultations of background stars should be detectable. Analysis of archival data now reveals an occultation by a body with an approximately 500-metre radius at a distance of 45 astronomical units. The detection of only one event reveals a deficit of sub-kilometre-sized Kuiper belt objects and implies that these small bodies are undergoing collisional erosion.
- H. E. Schlichting
- E. O. Ofek
- S. Zucker
