Cubewanos

When the orbital eccentricities of cubewanos and plutinos are compared, it can be seen that the cubewanos form a clear 'belt' outside Neptune's orbit, whereas the plutinos approach, or even cross Neptune's orbit.

Cubewanos are objects in the Kuiper belt that didn't get scattered and didn't get locked into a resonance with Neptune.

Orbits: 'hot' and 'cold' populations Most cubewanos are found between the 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune (populated by plutinos ) and the 1:2 resonance.

Resonant objects (including Neptune trojans ) are plotted in red, cubewanos in blue.

The 'hot' and 'cold' populations are strikingly different: more than 30% of all cubewanos are in low inclination, near-circular orbits.

When orbital inclinations are compared, 'hot' cubewanos can be easily distinguished by their higher inclinations, as the plutinos typically keep orbits below 20°.