Exploring the Trans-Neptunian Solar System

Exploring the Trans-Neptunian Solar System

  • Editor: National Academies Press
  • ISBN: 9780309060417
  • eISBN Pdf: 9780309521888
  • eISBN Epub: 9780309174121
  • Lloc de publicació:  United States
  • Any de publicació digital: 1998
  • Mes: Abril
  • Pàgines: 65
  • DDC: 520
  • Idioma: Anglés

In the last decade, our knowledge of the outer solar system has been transformed as a result of the Voyager 2 encounter with Neptune and its satellite Triton and from Earth-based observations of the Pluto-Charon system. However, the planetary system does not simply end at the distance of Pluto and Neptune. In the past few years, dozens of bodies have been discovered in near-circular, low inclination orbits near or beyond the orbit of Neptune. These bodies are now believed to be directly related to each other and to Pluto, Charon, and Triton, and as a class they define and occupy the inner boundary of a hitherto unexplored component of the solar system, the trans-neptunian region. Exploring the Trans-Neptunian Solar System reviews current understanding of the trans-neptunian solar system and makes recommendations for the future exploration of this distant realm.

  • Cover
  • Front Matter
  • Executive Summary
  • 1 The New Worlds Beyond 30 AU
  • 2 Current Knowledge and Outstanding Issues
  • 3 Key Measurement Objectives
  • 4 Technology Issues
  • 5 Conclusions and Recommendations
  • Glossary
  • Plates 1-4