Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Prologue
- 1 The edge of the solar system
- 2 The Centaurs
- 3 The mystery of the short-period comets
- 4 Shooting in the dark
- 5 Deeper and deeper
- 6 Sorting out the dynamics
- 7 What are little planets made of?
- 8 Numbers and sizes
- 9 Things that go bump in the dark
- 10 Dust and discs
- 11 Where do we go from here?
- 12 Will we ever get our names right?
- Appendix 1 Dramatis personae
- Appendix 2 Guidelines for minor planet names
- Index
Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Prologue
- 1 The edge of the solar system
- 2 The Centaurs
- 3 The mystery of the short-period comets
- 4 Shooting in the dark
- 5 Deeper and deeper
- 6 Sorting out the dynamics
- 7 What are little planets made of?
- 8 Numbers and sizes
- 9 Things that go bump in the dark
- 10 Dust and discs
- 11 Where do we go from here?
- 12 Will we ever get our names right?
- Appendix 1 Dramatis personae
- Appendix 2 Guidelines for minor planet names
- Index
Summary
This is a story about a discovery and some of the developments which followed it. It is not a textbook. Although I hope it contains most of the relevant technical details I set out to show a little of how astronomy is actually done. Some of the characters spend their time looking through telescopes on the darkest of dark nights, others work in offices and laboratories far removed, both physically and psychologically, from mountaintop observatories. From time to time this diverse group of people come together, in small groups or en masse, to exchange ideas and dispute data. They do this in order to understand the origin and evolution of the solar system in which we live and work. A few names crop up frequently, for the community of solar system astronomers is a small one and our paths often meander across each other in unpredictable ways.
In the last few years a new, and dynamic, outer solar system has replaced the sterile border known to our predecessors. I still find it hard to believe how much our view of the solar system has changed in the last decade and even harder to credit that I have been a part of this adventure.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Beyond PlutoExploring the Outer Limits of the Solar System, pp. ixPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001