THE NATURE OF PLUTO AND OBJECTS ON THE RIM OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

STERN, S. Alan, Space Studies, SwRI, 1050 Walnut Street, Boudler, CO 80302, astern@swri.edu

A revolution has taken place in the past 15 years in our understanding of the architecture of our solar system. What once appeared to be a system of nine planets made up of 4 terrestrial planets, 4 giant planets, and a "misfit" called Pluto is now seen to incread be a system with many dozens of not hundreds of Pluto-like objects constituting the most populous class of planetary bodies in the solar system: the "ice dwarfs." This new class of planet resides primarily in the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. I will discuss how observations and theory have merged to reveal this new paradigm.

Recorded presentation

Session No. 32

P8. When One Planet Isn't Enough: Celebrating 25 Years of Solar System Exploration

Sunday, 22 October 2006: 1:30 PM-5:30 PM

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 38, No. 7, p.94

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2006 Philadelphia Annual Meeting (22–25 October 2006)

THE NATURE OF PLUTO AND OBJECTS ON THE RIM OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM