1.
Huntsville, Alabama
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Huntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County, the city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsvilles population was 180,105 as of the 2010 census, the Huntsville Metropolitan Areas population was 417,593 in 2010 to become the 2nd largest in Alabama. Huntsville metros population reached 441,000 by 2014, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named Huntsville to its Americas Dozen Distinctive Destinations for 2010 list. The first settlers of the area were Muscogee-speaking people, the Chickasaw traditionally claim to have settled around 1300 after coming east across the Mississippi. The 1805 Treaty with the Chickasaws and the Cherokee Treaty of Washington of 1806 ceded native claims to the United States Government, the area was subsequently purchased by LeRoy Pope, who named the area Twickenham after the home village of his distant kinsman Alexander Pope. Twickenham was carefully planned, with streets laid out on the northeast to southwest direction based on the Big Spring. However, due to anti-British sentiment during this period, the name was changed to Huntsville to honor John Hunt, both John Hunt and LeRoy Pope were Freemasons and charter members of Helion Lodge #1, the oldest Lodge in Alabama. In 1811, Huntsville became the first incorporated town in Alabama, however, the recognized birth year of the city is 1805, the year of John Hunts arrival. The citys sesquicentennial anniversary was held in 1955, and the bicentennial was celebrated in 2005, Huntsvilles quick growth was from wealth generated by the cotton and railroad industries. Many wealthy planters moved into the area from Virginia, Georgia, in 1819, Huntsville hosted a constitutional convention in Walker Allens large cabinetmaking shop. The 44 delegates meeting there wrote a constitution for the new state of Alabama, in accordance with the new state constitution, Huntsville became Alabamas first capital when the state was admitted to the Union. This was a designation for one legislative session only, and the capital was then moved to Cahawba, then to Tuscaloosa. In 1855, the Memphis and Charleston Railroad was constructed through Huntsville, Huntsville initially opposed secession from the Union in 1861, but provided many men for the Confederacys efforts. The 4th Alabama Infantry Regiment, led by Col. Egbert J. Jones of Huntsville, distinguished itself at the Battle of Manassas/Bull Run, the first major encounter of the American Civil War. The Fourth Alabama Infantry, which contained two Huntsville companies, were the first Alabama troops to fight in the war and were present when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox in April 1865. Eight generals of the war were born in or near Huntsville, Huntsville was the control point for the Western Division of the Memphis &Charleston, and by controlling this railroad the Union had a direct connection to Charleston South Carolina. During the first occupation, the Union officers occupied many of the homes in the city while the other men camped on the outskirts
2.
Princeton University
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Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The institution moved to Newark in 1747, then to the current site nine years later, Princeton provides undergraduate and graduate instruction in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering. The university has ties with the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton has the largest endowment per student in the United States. The university has graduated many notable alumni, two U. S. Presidents,12 U. S. Supreme Court Justices, and numerous living billionaires and foreign heads of state are all counted among Princetons alumni body. New Light Presbyterians founded the College of New Jersey in 1746 in order to train ministers, the college was the educational and religious capital of Scots-Irish America. In 1754, trustees of the College of New Jersey suggested that, in recognition of Governors interest, gov. Jonathan Belcher replied, What a name that would be. In 1756, the moved to Princeton, New Jersey. Its home in Princeton was Nassau Hall, named for the royal House of Orange-Nassau of William III of England, following the untimely deaths of Princetons first five presidents, John Witherspoon became president in 1768 and remained in that office until his death in 1794. During his presidency, Witherspoon shifted the focus from training ministers to preparing a new generation for leadership in the new American nation. To this end, he tightened academic standards and solicited investment in the college, in 1812, the eighth president the College of New Jersey, Ashbel Green, helped establish the Princeton Theological Seminary next door. The plan to extend the theological curriculum met with approval on the part of the authorities at the College of New Jersey. Today, Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary maintain separate institutions with ties that include such as cross-registration. Before the construction of Stanhope Hall in 1803, Nassau Hall was the sole building. The cornerstone of the building was laid on September 17,1754, during the summer of 1783, the Continental Congress met in Nassau Hall, making Princeton the countrys capital for four months. The class of 1879 donated twin lion sculptures that flanked the entrance until 1911, Nassau Halls bell rang after the halls construction, however, the fire of 1802 melted it. The bell was then recast and melted again in the fire of 1855, James McCosh took office as the colleges president in 1868 and lifted the institution out of a low period that had been brought about by the American Civil War. McCosh Hall is named in his honor, in 1879, the first thesis for a Doctor of Philosophy Ph. D. was submitted by James F. Williamson, Class of 1877. In 1896, the officially changed its name from the College of New Jersey to Princeton University to honor the town in which it resides
3.
University of California, Berkeley
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The University of California, Berkeley, is a public research university located in Berkeley, California. In 1960s, UC Berkeley was particularly noted for the Free Speech Movement as well as the Anti-Vietnam War Movement led by its students. S, Department of Energy, and is home to many world-renowned research institutes and organizations including Mathematical Sciences Research Institute and Space Sciences Laboratory. Faculty member J. R. Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, Lawrence Livermore Lab also discovered or co-discovered six chemical elements. The Academic Ranking of World Universities also ranks the University of California, Berkeley, third in the world overall, in 1866, the private College of California purchased the land comprising the current Berkeley campus. Ten faculty members and almost 40 students made up the new University of California when it opened in Oakland in 1869, billings was a trustee of the College of California and suggested that the college be named in honor of the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley. In 1870, Henry Durant, the founder of the College of California, with the completion of North and South Halls in 1873, the university relocated to its Berkeley location with 167 male and 22 female students and held its first classes. In 1905, the University Farm was established near Sacramento, ultimately becoming the University of California, by the 1920s, the number of campus buildings had grown substantially, and included twenty structures designed by architect John Galen Howard. Robert Gordon Sproul served as president from 1930 to 1958, by 1942, the American Council on Education ranked UC Berkeley second only to Harvard University in the number of distinguished departments. During World War II, following Glenn Seaborgs then-secret discovery of plutonium, UC Berkeley physics professor J. Robert Oppenheimer was named scientific head of the Manhattan Project in 1942. Along with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley is now a partner in managing two other labs, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, originally, military training was compulsory for male undergraduates, and Berkeley housed an armory for that purpose. In 1917, Berkeleys ROTC program was established, and its School of Military Aeronautics trained future pilots, including Jimmy Doolittle, both Robert McNamara and Frederick C. Weyand graduated from UC Berkeleys ROTC program, earning B. A. degrees in 1937 and 1938, in 1926, future fleet admiral Chester W. Nimitz established the first Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps unit at Berkeley. The Board of Regents ended compulsory military training at Berkeley in 1962, during the McCarthy era in 1949, the Board of Regents adopted an anti-communist loyalty oath. A number of faculty members objected and were dismissed, ten years passed before they were reinstated with back pay, in 1952, the University of California became an entity separate from the Berkeley campus. Each campus was given autonomy and its own Chancellor. Then-president Sproul assumed presidency of the entire University of California system, Berkeley gained a reputation for student activism in the 1960s with the Free Speech Movement of 1964 and opposition to the Vietnam War. In the highly publicized Peoples Park protest in 1969, students and the school conflicted over use of a plot of land, then governor of California Ronald Reagan called the Berkeley campus a haven for communist sympathizers, protesters, and sex deviants. Modern students at Berkeley are less active, with a greater percentage of moderates and conservatives
4.
Eris (dwarf planet)
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Eris is the most massive and second-largest dwarf planet known in the Solar System. It is also the known body directly orbiting the Sun. It is measured to be 2,326 ±12 kilometers in diameter, Eris is 27% more massive than dwarf planet Pluto, though Pluto is slightly larger by volume. Eris mass is about 0. 27% of the Earths mass, Eris was discovered in January 2005 by a Palomar Observatory-based team led by Mike Brown, and its identity was verified later that year. It is an object and a member of a high-eccentricity population known as the scattered disk. It has one moon, Dysnomia. As of February 2016, its distance from the Sun is 96.3 astronomical units, because Eris appeared to be larger than Pluto, NASA initially described it as the Solar Systems tenth planet. This, along with the prospect of other objects of similar size being discovered in the future, motivated the International Astronomical Union to define the term planet for the first time. Observations of an occultation by Eris in 2010 showed that its diameter was 2,326 ±12 kilometers, very slightly less than Pluto. Eris was discovered by the team of Mike Brown, Chad Trujillo, the discovery was announced on July 29,2005, the same day as Makemake and two days after Haumea, due in part to events that would later lead to controversy about Haumea. Routine observations were taken by the team on October 21,2003, in January 2005, the re-analysis revealed Eriss slow motion against the background stars. Follow-up observations were carried out to make a preliminary determination of Eriss orbit. More observations released in October 2005 revealed that Eris has a moon, observations of Dysnomias orbit permitted scientists to determine the mass of Eris, which in June 2007 they calculated to be ×1022 kg, 27%±2% greater than Plutos. Eris is named after the Greek goddess Eris, a personification of strife, the regular adjectival form of Eris is Eridian. As a result, for a time the object known to the wider public as Xena. Xena was a name used internally by the discovery team. It was inspired by the character of the television series Xena. The discovery team had saved the nickname Xena for the first body they discovered that was larger than Pluto
5.
Trans-Neptunian object
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A trans-Neptunian object is any minor planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater average distance than Neptune,30 astronomical units. Twelve minor planets with a semi-major axis greater than 150 AU and perihelion greater than 30 AU are known, the first trans-Neptunian object to be discovered was Pluto in 1930. It took until 1992 to discover a second trans-Neptunian object orbiting the Sun directly,1992 QB1, as of February 2017 over 2,300 trans-Neptunian objects appear on the Minor Planet Centers List of Transneptunian Objects. Of these TNOs,2,000 have a perihelion farther out than Neptune, as of November 2016,242 of these have their orbits well-enough determined that they have been given a permanent minor planet designation. The largest known object is Pluto, followed by Eris,2007 OR10, Makemake. The Kuiper belt, scattered disk, and Oort cloud are three divisions of this volume of space, though treatments vary and a few objects such as Sedna do not fit easily into any division. The orbit of each of the planets is slightly affected by the influences of the other planets. Discrepancies in the early 1900s between the observed and expected orbits of Uranus and Neptune suggested that there were one or more additional planets beyond Neptune, the search for these led to the discovery of Pluto in February 1930, which was too small to explain the discrepancies. Revised estimates of Neptunes mass from the Voyager 2 flyby in 1989 showed that the problem was spurious, Pluto was easiest to find because it has the highest apparent magnitude of all known trans-Neptunian objects. It also has an inclination to the ecliptic than most other large TNOs. After Plutos discovery, American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh continued searching for years for similar objects. For a long time, no one searched for other TNOs as it was believed that Pluto. Only after the 1992 discovery of a second TNO,1992 QB1, a broad strip of the sky around the ecliptic was photographed and digitally evaluated for slowly moving objects. Hundreds of TNOs were found, with diameters in the range of 50 to 2,500 kilometers, Pluto and Eris were eventually classified as dwarf planets by the International Astronomical Union. Kuiper belt objects are classified into the following two groups, Resonant objects are locked in an orbital resonance with Neptune. Objects with a 1,2 resonance are called twotinos, and objects with a 2,3 resonance are called plutinos, after their most prominent member, classical Kuiper belt objects have no such resonance, moving on almost circular orbits, unperturbed by Neptune. Examples are 1992 QB1,50000 Quaoar and Makemake, the scattered disc contains objects farther from the Sun, usually with very irregular orbits. A typical example is the most massive known TNO, Eris, scattered-extended —Scattered-extended objects have a Tisserand parameter greater than 3 and have a time-averaged eccentricity greater than 0
6.
Planetary science
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Planetary science or, more rarely, planetology, is the scientific study of planets, moons, and planetary systems and the processes that form them. It studies objects ranging in size from micrometeoroids to gas giants, aiming to determine their composition, dynamics, formation, interrelations, allied disciplines include space physics, when concerned with the effects of the Sun on the bodies of the Solar System, and astrobiology. There are interrelated observational and theoretical branches of planetary science, the theoretical component involves considerable computer simulation and mathematical modelling. There are several major conferences each year, and a range of peer-reviewed journals. But that they are destroyed by colliding with one another, and that some ordered worlds are bare of animals and plants and all water. In more modern times, planetary science began in astronomy, from studies of the unresolved planets, advances in telescope construction and instrumental resolution gradually allowed increased identification of the atmospheric and surface details of the planets. In this scientific process, the instruments were astronomical optical telescopes. The Solar System has now been relatively well-studied, and an overall understanding of the formation and evolution of this planetary system exists. However, there are numbers of unsolved questions, and the rate of new discoveries is very high. This is both an observational and a theoretical science, theoretical planetary astronomy is concerned with dynamics, the application of the principles of celestial mechanics to the Solar System and extrasolar planetary systems. The best known research topics of planetary geology deal with the bodies in the near vicinity of the Earth, the Moon. Of these, the Moon was studied first, using methods developed earlier on the Earth, geomorphology studies the features on planetary surfaces and reconstructs the history of their formation, inferring the physical processes that acted on the surface. For example, the thin dust cover on the surface of the regolith is a result of micrometeorite bombardment. Hydrological features, the involved can range from water to hydrocarbon and ammonia. The history of a surface can be deciphered by mapping features from top to bottom according to their deposition sequence. For example, stratigraphic mapping prepared the Apollo astronauts for the geology they would encounter on their lunar missions. Overlapping sequences were identified on images taken by the Lunar Orbiter program, fortunately, direct samples from the Moon, asteroids and Mars are present on Earth, removed from their parent bodies and delivered as meteorites. The different types of meteorite that originate from the asteroid belt cover almost all parts of the structure of differentiated bodies, meteorites even exist that come from the core-mantle boundary
7.
Jean-Luc Margot
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Jean-Luc Margot is a Belgian-born astronomer and a UCLA professor who specializes in planetary sciences. Margot has discovered and studied several binary asteroids with radar and optical telescopes, in 2000, he obtained the first images of binary near-Earth asteroids and described formation of the binary by a spin-up process. Margot and his group have studied the influence of sunlight on the orbits and spins of asteroids. In 2007, Margot and collaborators determined that Mercury has a core from the analysis of small variations in the spin rate of the planet. These observations also enabled a measurement of the size of the based on a concept proposed by Stan Peale. In 2012, Margot and graduate student Julia Fang analyzed Kepler data to infer the architecture of planetary systems and they described planetary systems as flatter than pancakes. They also showed that planetary systems are dynamically packed. Margot was awarded the H. C, urey Prize by the American Astronomical Society in 2004. The asteroid 9531 Jean-Luc is named after him, Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, UCLA Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA Personal web page
8.
Chad Trujillo
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Chadwick A. Chad Trujillo is an American astronomer, discoverer of minor planets and the co-discoverer of Eris, the most massive dwarf planet known in the Solar System. Trujillo works with software and has examined the orbits of the numerous trans-Neptunian objects. In late August 2005, it was announced that Trujillo, along with Michael E. Brown, as a result of the discovery of the satellite Dysnomia, Eris was the first TNO known to be more massive than Pluto. Trujillo attended Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, Trujillo was later a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech, and is currently an astronomer at the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii. He studies the Kuiper belt and the outer Solar System, the main-belt asteroid 12101 Trujillo is named for him. Trujillo is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery and co-discovery of 50 numbered minor planets between 1996 and 2007, including many trans-Neptunian objects from the Kuiper belt, makemake, co-discovered with Brown and Rabinowitz in 2005, one of the first 5 official dwarf planets
9.
Astronomer
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An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who concentrates their studies on a specific question or field outside of the scope of Earth. They look at stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies, as well as other celestial objects — either in observational astronomy. Examples of topics or fields astronomers work on include, planetary science, solar astronomy, there are also related but distinct subjects like physical cosmology which studies the Universe as a whole. Astronomers usually fit into two types, Observational astronomers make direct observations of planets, stars and galaxies, and analyze the data, theoretical astronomers create and investigate models of things that cannot be observed. They use this data to create models or simulations to theorize how different celestial bodies work, there are further subcategories inside these two main branches of astronomy such as planetary astronomy, galactic astronomy or physical cosmology. Today, that distinction has disappeared and the terms astronomer. Professional astronomers are highly educated individuals who typically have a Ph. D. in physics or astronomy and are employed by research institutions or universities. They spend the majority of their time working on research, although quite often have other duties such as teaching, building instruments. The number of astronomers in the United States is actually quite small. The American Astronomical Society, which is the organization of professional astronomers in North America, has approximately 7,000 members. This number includes scientists from other such as physics, geology. The International Astronomical Union comprises almost 10,145 members from 70 different countries who are involved in research at the Ph. D. level. Before CCDs, photographic plates were a method of observation. Modern astronomers spend relatively little time at telescopes usually just a few weeks per year, analysis of observed phenomena, along with making predictions as to the causes of what they observe, takes the majority of observational astronomers time. Astronomers who serve as faculty spend much of their time teaching undergraduate and graduate classes, most universities also have outreach programs including public telescope time and sometimes planetariums as a public service to encourage interest in the field. Those who become astronomers usually have a background in maths, sciences. Taking courses that teach how to research, write and present papers are also invaluable, in college/university most astronomers get a Ph. D. in astronomy or physics. Keeping in mind how few there are it is understood that graduate schools in this field are very competitive
10.
California Institute of Technology
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The California Institute of Technology is a private doctorate-granting university located in Pasadena, California, United States. The vocational and preparatory schools were disbanded and spun off in 1910, the university is one among a small group of Institutes of Technology in the United States which is primarily devoted to the instruction of technical arts and applied sciences. Caltech has six divisions with strong emphasis on science and engineering, managing $332 million in 2011 in sponsored research. Its 124-acre primary campus is located approximately 11 mi northeast of downtown Los Angeles, first-year students are required to live on campus, and 95% of undergraduates remain in the on-campus House System at Caltech. Although Caltech has a tradition of practical jokes and pranks. The Caltech Beavers compete in 13 intercollegiate sports in the NCAA Division IIIs Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Caltech is frequently cited as one of the worlds best universities. There are 112 faculty members who have elected to the United States National Academies. In addition, numerous faculty members are associated with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as well as NASA, according to a 2015 Pomona College study, Caltech ranked number one in the U. S. for the percentage of its graduates who go on to earn a PhD. Caltech started as a school founded in Pasadena in 1891 by local businessman and politician Amos G. Throop. The school was known successively as Throop University, Throop Polytechnic Institute, the vocational school was disbanded and the preparatory program was split off to form an independent Polytechnic School in 1907. At a time when research in the United States was still in its infancy, George Ellery Hale. He joined Throops board of trustees in 1907, and soon began developing it and he engineered the appointment of James A. B. Scherer, a literary scholar untutored in science but a capable administrator and fund raiser, scherer persuaded retired businessman and trustee Charles W. Gates to donate $25,000 in seed money to build Gates Laboratory, the first science building on campus. In 1910, Throop moved to its current site, arther Fleming donated the land for the permanent campus site. The promise of Throop attracted physical chemist Arthur Amos Noyes from MIT to develop the institution and assist in establishing it as a center for science, with the onset of World War I, Hale organized the National Research Council to coordinate and support scientific work on military problems. This institution, with its able investigators and excellent research laboratories, through the National Research Council, Hale simultaneously lobbied for science to play a larger role in national affairs, and for Throop to play a national role in science. During the course of the war, Hale, Noyes and Millikan worked together in Washington on the NRC, subsequently, they continued their partnership in developing Caltech. Under the leadership of Hale, Noyes and Millikan, Caltech grew to prominence in the 1920s
11.
Dwarf planet
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A dwarf planet is a planetary-mass object that is neither a planet nor a natural satellite. The International Astronomical Union currently recognizes five dwarf planets, Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, another hundred or so known objects in the Solar System are suspected to be dwarf planets. Individual astronomers recognize several of these, and in August 2011 Mike Brown published a list of 390 candidate objects, Stern states that there are more than a dozen known dwarf planets. Only two of these bodies, Ceres and Pluto, have observed in enough detail to demonstrate that they actually fit the IAUs definition. The IAU accepted Eris as a dwarf planet because it is more massive than Pluto and they subsequently decided that unnamed trans-Neptunian objects with an absolute magnitude brighter than +1 are to be named under the assumption that they are dwarf planets. The classification of bodies in other systems with the characteristics of dwarf planets has not been addressed. Starting in 1801, astronomers discovered Ceres and other bodies between Mars and Jupiter which were for some decades considered to be planets. Between then and around 1851, when the number of planets had reached 23, astronomers started using the asteroid for the smaller bodies. With the discovery of Pluto in 1930, most astronomers considered the Solar System to have nine planets and it was roughly one-twentieth the mass of Mercury, which made Pluto by far the smallest planet. Although it was more than ten times as massive as the largest object in the asteroid belt, Ceres. In the 1990s, astronomers began to find objects in the region of space as Pluto. Many of these shared several of Plutos key orbital characteristics, and Pluto started being seen as the largest member of a new class of objects and this led some astronomers to stop referring to Pluto as a planet. Several terms, including subplanet and planetoid, started to be used for the now known as dwarf planets. By 2005, three trans-Neptunian objects comparable in size to Pluto had been reported and it became clear that either they would also have to be classified as planets, or Pluto would have to be reclassified. Astronomers were also confident that more objects as large as Pluto would be discovered, Eris was discovered in January 2005, it was thought to be slightly larger than Pluto, and some reports informally referred to it as the tenth planet. As a consequence, the became a matter of intense debate during the IAU General Assembly in August 2006. The IAUs initial draft proposal included Charon, Eris, and Ceres in the list of planets, dropping Charon from the list, the new proposal also removed Pluto, Ceres, and Eris, because they have not cleared their orbits. The IAUs final Resolution 5A preserved this three-category system for the bodies orbiting the Sun
12.
Pluto
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Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond Neptune. It was the first Kuiper belt object to be discovered, Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 and was originally considered to be the ninth planet from the Sun. After 1992, its planethood was questioned following the discovery of objects of similar size in the Kuiper belt. In 2005, Eris, which is 27% more massive than Pluto, was discovered and this led the International Astronomical Union to define the term planet formally in 2006, during their 26th General Assembly. That definition excluded Pluto and reclassified it as a dwarf planet, Pluto is the largest and second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object directly orbiting the Sun. It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume but is less massive than Eris, like other Kuiper belt objects, Pluto is primarily made of ice and rock and is relatively small—about one-sixth the mass of the Moon and one-third its volume. It has an eccentric and inclined orbit during which it ranges from 30 to 49 astronomical units or AU from the Sun. This means that Pluto periodically comes closer to the Sun than Neptune, light from the Sun takes about 5.5 hours to reach Pluto at its average distance. Pluto has five moons, Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos. Pluto and Charon are sometimes considered a system because the barycenter of their orbits does not lie within either body. The IAU has not formalized a definition for binary dwarf planets, on July 14,2015, the New Horizons spacecraft became the first spacecraft to fly by Pluto. During its brief flyby, New Horizons made detailed measurements and observations of Pluto, on October 25,2016, at 05,48 pm ET, the last bit of data was received from New Horizons from its close encounter with Pluto on July 14,2015. In the 1840s, Urbain Le Verrier used Newtonian mechanics to predict the position of the then-undiscovered planet Neptune after analysing perturbations in the orbit of Uranus. Subsequent observations of Neptune in the late 19th century led astronomers to speculate that Uranuss orbit was being disturbed by another planet besides Neptune, by 1909, Lowell and William H. Pickering had suggested several possible celestial coordinates for such a planet. Lowell and his observatory conducted his search until his death in 1916, unknown to Lowell, his surveys had captured two faint images of Pluto on March 19 and April 7,1915, but they were not recognized for what they were. There are fourteen other known prediscovery observations, with the oldest made by the Yerkes Observatory on August 20,1909. Percivals widow, Constance Lowell, entered into a legal battle with the Lowell Observatory over her late husbands legacy. Tombaughs task was to image the night sky in pairs of photographs, then examine each pair
13.
Kavli Prize
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The Kavli Prize was established in 2005 through a joint venture between the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and The Kavli Foundation. The Kavli Prize was awarded the first time in Oslo,9 September 2008, the Prizes were presented by His Royal Highness Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway. Each of the three Kavli Prizes consists of a medal, a scroll, and a cash award of US $1,000,000. The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters administer the selection process, the Kavli Prize, official site The Kavli Prize on The Kavli Foundation site The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research
14.
David C. Jewitt
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Jewitt is an English astronomer and professor of astronomy at UCLAs Earth, Planetary, and Space Science Department in California. He is best known for having discovered the first body in the Kuiper belt and he was born in 1958 in England, and is a 1979 graduate of University College, London. Jewitt received an M. Sc. and a Ph. D. in astronomy at the California Institute of Technology in 1980 and 1983, respectively. His research interests cover all aspects of the system, including the trans-Neptunian Solar System, Solar System formation, ice in the asteroids. Along with Jane Luu, he discovered the first Kuiper belt object in 1992 and those resonant objects in the 3,2 mean-motion resonance he called plutinos as a reminder that Pluto is one such object. Jewitt is a member of national academies. He was also awarded the Kavli Prize in the same year and he is a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Jewitt is also featured in the 1985 BBC Horizon episode Halleys Comet, The Apparition and he has also discovered the Jovian moon Adrastea on images taken by Voyager 2 in 1979, and is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of more than 40 minor planets. The inner main-belt asteroid 6434 Jewitt, discovered by Edward Bowell in 1981, was named in his honor, naming citation was published on 1 July 1996. A selection of his recent publications includes, J. Li, D. Jewitt, J. Clover, outburst of Comet 17P/Holmes Observed With The Solar Mass Ejection Imager. A Near-Infrared Search for Silicates in Jovian Trojan Asteroids, M. Drahus, D. Jewitt, A. Guilbert-Lepoutre, W. Waniak, J. Hoge, D. Lis, H. Yoshida and R. Peng. Rotation State of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 from Radio Spectroscopy at 1-mm, D. Jewitt, H. Weaver, M. Mutchler, S. Larson and J. Agarwal. Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Main Belt Comet Scheila,733, L4 H. Hsieh, P. Lacerda, M. Ishiguro and D. Jewitt. Physical Properties of Main-Belt Comet 176P/LINEAR, D. Jewitt, S. Stuart and J. Li. Prediscovery Observations of Disrupting Asteroid P/2010 A2, thermal Shadows and Compositional Structure in Comet Nuclei. Ap. J.743,31 D. Jewitt and A. Guilbert-Lepoutre, limits to Ice on Asteroids Themis and Cybele. J.143,21 Curriculum vitae Publications David Jewitt website Video interview on YouTube about the Kuiper belt, Pan-STARRS, and icy main-belt comets
15.
Kuiper belt
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It is similar to the asteroid belt, but it is far larger—20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive. Like the asteroid belt, it consists mainly of small bodies, although many asteroids are composed primarily of rock and metal, most Kuiper belt objects are composed largely of frozen volatiles, such as methane, ammonia and water. The Kuiper belt is home to three officially recognized dwarf planets, Pluto, Haumea, and Makemake, some of the Solar Systems moons, such as Neptunes Triton and Saturns Phoebe, are also thought to have originated in the region. The Kuiper belt was named after Dutch-American astronomer Gerard Kuiper, though he did not actually predict its existence, in 1992,1992 QB1 was discovered, the first Kuiper belt object since Pluto. Since its discovery, the number of known KBOs has increased to over a thousand, the Kuiper belt should not be confused with the theorized Oort cloud, which is a thousand times more distant and is mostly spherical. The objects within the Kuiper belt, together with the members of the scattered disc, Pluto is the largest and most-massive member of the Kuiper belt and the largest and the second-most-massive known TNO, surpassed only by Eris in the scattered disc. Originally considered a planet, Plutos status as part of the Kuiper belt caused it to be reclassified as a planet in 2006. It is compositionally similar to other objects of the Kuiper belt, and its orbital period is characteristic of a class of KBOs, known as plutinos. After the discovery of Pluto in 1930, many speculated that it not be alone. The region now called the Kuiper belt was hypothesized in various forms for decades and it was only in 1992 that the first direct evidence for its existence was found. The number and variety of speculations on the nature of the Kuiper belt have led to continued uncertainty as to who deserves credit for first proposing it. The first astronomer to suggest the existence of a population was Frederick C. That same year, astronomer Armin O. Leuschner suggested that Pluto may be one of many long-period planetary objects yet to be discovered. Kuiper was operating on the common in his time that Pluto was the size of Earth and had therefore scattered these bodies out toward the Oort cloud or out of the Solar System. Were Kuipers hypothesis correct, there would not be a Kuiper belt today, the hypothesis took many other forms in the following decades. Cameron postulated the existence of a mass of small material on the outskirts of the solar system. Observation, however, ruled out this hypothesis, in 1977, Charles Kowal discovered 2060 Chiron, an icy planetoid with an orbit between Saturn and Uranus. He used a blink comparator, the device that had allowed Clyde Tombaugh to discover Pluto nearly 50 years before
16.
Virgil I. Grissom High School
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The school was named a 2007 Blue Ribbon School by the U. S. Department of Education. In the Newsweek ranking of schools throughout the nation for 2015, Grissom High School was ranked second best in the state, Grissom was the only high school in Huntsville to make the 2015 list. The school is located in Southeast Huntsville and serves an area of middle to upper-middle-class neighborhoods. The suburban middle schools within the area include, Mountain Gap Middle School, Challenger Middle School, Grissom High School was founded in 1969 and is named for astronaut Virgil I. Gus Grissom, killed in the Apollo 1 fire at Cape Kennedy, Huntsville is home to NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center and has ties to the space program. At the same time, the Huntsville City Schools named Roger B, chaffee Elementary and Ed White Middle School for Grissoms fallen Apollo 1 crewmates. The rebuild would see ninth graders held at their middle schools until construction is completed in 2016. Tom Drake served as Grissoms principal from 2000 through August 2013, the school board named June Kalange, then a vice-principal and former science teacher at Grissom, as his replacement in early August 2013. As of 2015, the current principal is Rebecca Balentine, the Huntsville City Schools had been contemplating rebuilding the school by around 2016 either at the current site, or else at a 60-acre site adjacent to Weatherly Roads west end. The board learned on March 7,2013, that a different, the now-under construction Grissom property is on National Boulevard, immediately west of Lowes and Sams Club. Published plans would extend Weatherly Road across Memorial Parkway in order to serve that site, two memoranda of understanding were signed on May 3,2013. These interrelated MoUs are frameworks without contractual obligation, president John W. Hays The MoUs acknowledge a gift to the city by Hylis consisting of difference between selling price and appraised value. Additional parcels for access roads and a park will also be donated by Hylis, the MoU approved at that session pledges a transfer to the City of Huntsville, of the Grissom and J. O. Johnson High School campuses, following their respective relocations, in 2007, Newsweek magazine ranked Grissom among the top 5% of all high schools in the United States. In the Newsweek ranking of schools throughout the nation for 2015, Grissom High School was ranked second best in the state, Grissom was the only high school in Huntsville to make the 2015 list. Grissom produced 28 National Merit Semifinalists for 2007, the highest number in the state, Grissoms math teams and academic team have also earned national recognition. Grissoms 2007 Science Olympiad state team placed 2nd at the competition at Samford University. They participated in the National Science Olympiad competition in Kansas in May 2007, in 2008, Grissoms Debate and Speech Team qualified for, and competed in the NFL National Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada
17.
Bachelor of Arts
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A Bachelor of Arts is a bachelors degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both. Bachelor of Arts degree programs take three to four years depending on the country, academic institution, and specific specializations, majors or minors. The word baccalaureus or baccalarium should not be confused with baccalaureatus, degree diplomas generally are printed on high-quality paper or parchment, individual institutions set the preferred abbreviation for their degrees. In Pakistan, the Bachelor of Arts degree can also be attained within two years as an external degree, in colleges and universities in Australia, New Zealand, Nepal and South Africa, the BA degree can be taken over three years of full-time study. Unlike in other countries, students do not receive a grade for their Bachelor of Arts degree with varying levels of honours. Qualified students may be admitted, after they have achieved their Bachelors program with an overall grade point average. Thus, to achieve a Bachelor Honours degree, a postgraduate year. A student who holds a Honours degree is eligible for entry to either a Doctorate or a very high research Master´s degree program. Education in Canada is controlled by the Provinces and can be different depending on the province in Canada. Canadian universities typically offer a 3-year Bachelor of Arts degrees, in many universities and colleges, Bachelor of Arts degrees are differentiated either as Bachelors of Arts or as honours Bachelor of Arts degree. The honours degrees are designated with the abbreviation in brackets of. It should not be confused with the consecutive Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours, Latin Baccalaureatus in Artibus Cum Honore, BA hon. de jure without brackets and with a dot. It is a degree, which is considered to be the equivalent of a corresponding maîtrise degree under the French influenced system. Going back in history, a three-year Bachelor of Arts degree was called a pass degree or general degree. Students may be required to undertake a long high-quality research empirical thesis combined with a selection of courses from the relevant field of studies. The consecutive B. cum Honore degree is essential if students ultimate goal is to study towards a two- or three-year very high research masters´ degree qualification. A student holding a Baccalaureatus Cum Honore degree also may choose to complete a Doctor of Philosophy program without the requirement to first complete a masters degree, over the years, in some universities certain Baccalaureatus cum Honore programs have been changed to corresponding master´s degrees. In general, in all four countries, the B. A. degree is the standard required for entry into a masters programme, in science, a BA hons degree is generally a prerequisite for entrance to a Ph. D program or a very-high-research-activity master´s programme
18.
Tower Club
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Tower is located at 13 Prospect Avenue between the university-run Campus Club and the Cannon Club, it currently has a membership of approximately two hundred and fifteen. In the spring of 1902, based on the idea of four sophomores, John Lee 04, Henry Pogue 04, Otto Wolff 04, Conway Shearer 04, and Frank Pop Little 03 led the formation of a new upperclass eating club. In April, a stake of four hundred dollars was placed to ensure the secure formation of the club the following year. In September of the year, the Princeton Tower Club was formed in the old Monastery Club on University Place. It was composed of thirteen members of the class and thirteen juniors. During that year, the club hoped to move to a much coveted plot on Prospect Avenue, Gulick was also known as the Incubator because it had served as a first home for a number of the infant eating clubs. After one term in the Incubator, Tower purchased a plot of land from the Cottage Club and, in September 1904, seven years later, Tower moved to its current location at 13 Prospect Avenue. Under the leadership of Tower, an Inter-Club Council was formed to address issues involving all of the Princeton eating clubs, Tower also led the formation of the Princeton Prospect Foundation, which enables educational opportunities on The Street. In 1971, Tower became one of the first clubs to accept women, spring bicker is held during the first two to three days of the second semester. Student bickerees are informed of their status on the Friday of the first week of second semester classes. There is also a smaller bicker process held each October and open exclusively to students in their junior and senior years, the details of bicker, discussions and initiations are kept secret to preserve club tradition. Traditionally known to attract both artistic and politically engaged students on campus, Tower was the most bickered eating club between 2007 and 2010 with a rate of under 50%. ISBN 0-9634444-4-1 http, //etcweb. princeton. edu/Campus/text_Tower. html Princeton Tower Club Daily Princetonian Article
19.
Doctor of Philosophy
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A Doctor of Philosophy is a type of doctoral degree awarded by universities in many countries. Ph. D. s are awarded for a range of programs in the sciences, engineering. The Ph. D. is a degree in many fields. The completion of a Ph. D. is often a requirement for employment as a university professor, researcher, individuals with an earned doctorate can use the title of Doctor with their name and use the post-nominal letters Ph. D. The requirements to earn a Ph. D. degree vary considerably according to the country, institution, a person who attains a doctorate of philosophy is automatically awarded the academic title of doctor. A student attaining this level may be granted a Candidate of Philosophy degree at some institutions. A Ph. D. candidate must submit a project, thesis or dissertation often consisting of a body of academic research. In many countries, a candidate must defend this work before a panel of examiners appointed by the university. Universities award other types of doctorates besides the Ph. D. such as the Doctor of Musical Arts, a degree for music performers and the Doctor of Education, in 2016, ELIA launched The Florence Principles on the Doctorate in the Arts. The Florence Principles have been endorsed are supported also by AEC, CILECT, CUMULUS, the degree is abbreviated PhD, from the Latin Philosophiae Doctor, pronounced as three separate letters. In the universities of Medieval Europe, study was organized in four faculties, the faculty of arts. All of these faculties awarded intermediate degrees and final degrees, the doctorates in the higher faculties were quite different from the current Ph. D. degree in that they were awarded for advanced scholarship, not original research. No dissertation or original work was required, only lengthy residency requirements, besides these degrees, there was the licentiate. According to Keith Allan Noble, the first doctoral degree was awarded in medieval Paris around 1150, the doctorate of philosophy developed in Germany as the terminal Teachers credential in the 17th century. Typically, upon completion, the candidate undergoes an oral examination, always public, starting in 2016, in Ukraine Doctor of Philosophy is the highest education level and the first science degree. PhD is awarded in recognition of a contribution to scientific knowledge. A PhD degree is a prerequisite for heading a university department in Ukraine, upon completion of a PhD, a PhD holder can elect to continue his studies and get a post-doctoral degree called Doctor of Sciences, which is the second and the highest science degree in Ukraine. Scandinavian countries were among the early adopters of a known as a doctorate of philosophy
20.
(126154) 2001 YH140
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2001 YH140, also written as 2001 YH140, is a resonant trans-Neptunian object discovered on December 18,2001 by C. A. Trujillo, M. E. Brown. 2001 YH140 is locked in 3,5 mean-motion resonance with Neptune, when it makes three revolutions around the Sun, Neptune makes exactly five. The rotation period of 2001 YH140 is estimated to be 13.25 ±0.2 hours, in 2010 thermal flux from 2001 YH140 in the far-infrared was measured by the Herschel Space Telescope. As a result, its size has been estimated to be 300–390 km.2001 YH140 at the JPL Small-Body Database Discovery · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters
21.
(55565) 2002 AW197
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2002 AW197 is a classical Kuiper belt object. Measurements with the Spitzer Space Telescope have confirmed 2002 AW197 as a dwarf planet. Light-curve-amplitude analysis shows only small deviations, which suggests that 2002 AW197 is a spheroid with small albedo spots, tancredi accepts it as a dwarf planet. Mike Browns website lists it as a likely dwarf planet. It was discovered on January 10,2002, by Michael Brown et al and it is located near the Kuiper cliff. Observations of thermal emissions by the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2007 give a diameter of 734+116 −108 km, the newest estimate is 768+39 −38 km ESO analysis of spectra reveals a strong red slope and no presence of water ice suggesting organic material. As of 2013, it is currently 46.0 AU from the Sun and it will come to perihelion around 2078. High Albedo KBO2002 AW197, The Astronomical Journal Letters,624,53, abstract Doressoundiram, A. Barucci, M. A. Tozzi, G. P. Poulet, F. Boehnhardt, H. de Bergh, C. Spectral characteristics and modeling of the trans-neptunian object 2002 AW197 and the Centaurs 2002 GB10 and 2002 GO9, ESO Large Program on TNOs, planetary and Space Science,53, Issue 14-15, p. 1501–1509. Abstract AstDys orbital elements Orbital simulation from JPL / Horizons Ephemeris 2002 AW197 at the JPL Small-Body Database Discovery · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters
22.
(119951) 2002 KX14
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2002 KX14, also written as 2002 KX14, is a trans-Neptunian object residing within the Kuiper belt. It was discovered on 17 May 2002 by Michael E. Brown and it has a semi-major axis, orbital period and orbital eccentricity close to that of a plutino. The orbital periods of plutinos cluster around 247.2 years, however,2002 KX14 is not a plutino, because is not in resonance with Neptune, and it may have formed near its present nearly circular orbit lying almost perfectly on the ecliptic. It may have remained dynamically cold and thus its orbit may not be a result of significant perturbations during Neptunes outward planetary migration. The Deep Ecliptic Survey currently shows it as a cubewano based on a 10-million-year integration of the orbit and it comes to opposition in late May at an apparent magnitude of 20.4. This makes it about 360 times fainter than Pluto
23.
50000 Quaoar
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50000 Quaoar is a Kuiper belt object roughly half the size of Pluto, with a diameter of 1110±5 km. It is large enough and massive enough that it is probably a dwarf planet and its orbit in the Kuiper belt is not in resonance with Neptune, which means it is a classical Kuiper belt object. Quaoar has one moon, Weywot. Quaoar was discovered in 2002 and its moon in 2007 and it was named after the Tongva creator deity and its moon after his son. Signs of water ice have been found, which suggests that cryovolcanism may be occurring, a small amount of methane is present on Quaoars surface, which can only be retained by the largest Kuiper belt objects. The discovery of this magnitude 18.5 object, at the time located in the constellation Ophiuchus, was announced on October 7,2002, the earliest prediscovery image proved to be a May 25,1954 plate from Palomar Observatory. Quaoar is named for the Tongva creator god, following International Astronomical Union naming conventions for non-resonant Kuiper belt objects, the Tongva are the native people of the area around Los Angeles, where the discovery of Quaoar was made. Brown et al. had picked the name with the more intuitive spelling Kwawar, prior to IAU approval of the name, Quaoar went by the provisional designation 2002 LM60. However, subsequent even-larger discoveries were simply numbered according to the order in which their orbits were confirmed, Quaoar was later supplanted by Eris, Sedna, Haumea, and Makemake, though Sedna was later found to be somewhat smaller than Quaoar. Quaoar is about as massive as Plutos moon Charon, which is approximately 2 1⁄2 times as massive as Orcus, Quaoar is roughly one twelfth the diameter of Earth, one third the diameter of the Moon, and half the size of Pluto. Quaoar was the first trans-Neptunian object to be measured directly from Hubble Space Telescope images, using a new, given its distance Quaoar is on the limit of the HST resolution and its image is consequently smeared on a few adjacent pixels. This method was applied by the same authors to measure the size of Eris. The uncorrected 2004 HST estimates only marginally agree with the 2007 infrared measurements by the Spitzer Space Telescope that suggest a higher albedo and consequently a smaller diameter. Adopting a Uranian-satellite limb darkening profile suggests that the 2004 HST size estimate for Quaoar was approximately 40% too large, using a weighted average of the SST and corrected HST estimates, Quaoar, as of 2010, can be estimated at about 890±70 km in diameter. On 4 May 2011 Quaoar occulted a 16th-magnitude star, which gave 1170 km as the longest chord, New measurement from Herschel Space Observatory with revised data from SST suggested that Quaoar has a diameter of 1070±38 km and its satellite, Weywot, of 81±11 km. Because Quaoar is an object, the mass of the system can be calculated from the orbit of the secondary. Quaoars estimated density of around 2.2 g/cm3 and estimated size of 1,100 km suggests that it is a dwarf planet. Mike Brown estimates that rocky bodies around 900 km in diameter relax into hydrostatic equilibrium, with an estimated mass greater than 1
24.
(307261) 2002 MS4
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2002 MS4 is a large classical Kuiper belt object, the second-largest known object in the Solar System without a name, after 2007 OR10. It was discovered in 2002 by Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown, browns website lists it as nearly certain to be a dwarf planet. The Spitzer Space Telescope estimated it to have a diameter of 726±123 km and it is currently 47.2 AU from the Sun and will come to perihelion in 2123. It has been observed 55 times, with precovery images back to 1954, Orbital simulation from JPL / Ephemeris 2002 MS4 Precovery Images 2002 MS4 at the JPL Small-Body Database Discovery · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters
25.
(84719) 2002 VR128
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2002 VR128, also written 2002 VR128, is a trans-Neptunian object. It was discovered in 2002 by Michael Brown and Chad Trujillo, the object is a plutino, an object in 2,3 orbital resonance with Neptune. The size of 2002 VR128 was measured by the Herschel Space Telescope to be 448. 5+42.1 −43.2 km, the surface of 2002 VR128 is red in the visible spectral range. Orbit simulation from NASA JPL site Orbital details from the IAU Minor Planets Center 2002 VR128 at the JPL Small-Body Database Discovery · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters
26.
(208996) 2003 AZ84
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2003 AZ84 is a binary trans-Neptunian object from the outer regions of the Solar System, approximately 700 kilometers in diameter. It belongs to the plutinos – a group of planets named after its largest member Pluto – as it orbits in a 2,3 resonance with Neptune in the Kuiper belt. It was discovered on 13 January 2003, by American astronomers Chad Trujillo and its lightcurve amplitude deviates little from that of an ellipsoid, which suggests that it is likely one with small albedo spots. It orbits the Sun in just over 247 Earth years and it is currently 45.3 AU from the Sun and came to aphelion in 1982. It will come to perihelion in 2107, simulations by the Deep Ecliptic Survey show that over the next 10 million years 2003 AZ84 will not come closer than 31.6 AU from the Sun. Two rotational lightcurves of this planet were obtained by Scott Sheppard. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 6.71 and 6.76 hours with a brightness variation of 0.14 and 0.10 in magnitude. The Spitzer Space Telescope has estimated its size at 686±96 km, while an analysis of a combination of Spitzer and these results are in agreement with each other. Its large size 2003 AZ84 makes it a dwarf planet. Its mass is unknown since the satellite has not been recovered, a stellar occultation in 2010 measured a single chord of 573±21 km. But this is only a limit for the diameter of 2003 AZ84 because the chord may not have passed through the center of the body. The spectra and colors of 2003 AZ84 are very similar to those of Orcus, both bodies have a flat featureless spectrum in the visible and moderately strong water ice absorption bands in the near-infrared, although 2003 AZ84 has a lower albedo. Both bodies also have an absorption band near 2.3 μm. Using observations with the Hubble Space Telescope, the discovery of a satellite of 2003 AZ84 was reported in IAUC8812 on 22 February 2007, the object was measured with a separation of 0.22 arcsec and an apparent magnitude difference of 5.0. As of 2012, attempts to recover the satellite have failed, the unrecovered satellite is estimated to be about 68±20 km in diameter. Orbital simulation from JPL / Ephemeris 2003 AZ84 Precovery Images 2003 AZ84 at the JPL Small-Body Database Discovery · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters
27.
65489 Ceto
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65489 Ceto /ˈsiːtoʊ/ is a binary trans-Neptunian object discovered on March 22,2003 by C. A. Trujillo and M. Brown at Palomar and it is named after the sea goddess Ceto from Greek mythology. Using an extended definition of a centaur as an object on a non-resonant orbit with its perihelion inside the orbit of Neptune and it came to perihelion in 1989. 65489 Ceto is an example of a close binary TNO system in which the components are of similar size, the binary nature of Ceto enables direct calculation of the system mass, allowing estimation of the masses of the components and providing additional constraints on their composition. The estimated density of Ceto is 1. 37+0.66 −0.32 g/cm3, significantly less than that of the large TNOs, phorcys has a mass of about 1. 67×1018 kg. Unless the bodies are porous, the density is consistent with rock–ice composition, the same tidal forces could be responsible for the quasi-circular orbits of the components of Ceto. Ceto is listed on Michael Browns website as possibly a dwarf planet
28.
90377 Sedna
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90377 Sedna is a large minor planet in the outer reaches of the Solar System that was, as of 2015, at a distance of about 86 astronomical units from the Sun, about three times as far as Neptune. Spectroscopy has revealed that Sednas surface composition is similar to that of some other objects, being largely a mixture of water, methane. Its surface is one of the reddest among Solar System objects and it is most likely a dwarf planet. Sedna has a long and elongated orbit, taking approximately 11,400 years to complete. These facts have led to speculation about its origin. The Minor Planet Center currently places Sedna in the scattered disc, others speculate that it might have been tugged into its current orbit by a passing star, perhaps one within the Suns birth cluster, or even that it was captured from another star system. Another hypothesis suggests that its orbit may be evidence for a planet beyond the orbit of Neptune. Astronomer Michael E. Sedna was discovered by Michael Brown, Chad Trujillo, the discovery formed part of a survey begun in 2001 with the Samuel Oschin telescope at Palomar Observatory near San Diego, California using Yales 160 megapixel Palomar Quest camera. On that day, an object was observed to move by 4.6 arcseconds over 3.1 hours relative to stars, later, the object was precovered on older images made by the Samuel Oschin telescope as well as on images from the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking consortium. These previous positions expanded its known orbital arc and allowed a precise calculation of its orbit. The team made the name Sedna public before the object had been officially numbered, brian Marsden, the head of the Minor Planet Center, said that such an action was a violation of protocol, and that some members of the IAU might vote against it. However, no objection was raised to the name, and no competing names were suggested, Sedna has the longest orbital period of any known object in the Solar System of comparable size or larger, calculated at around 11,400 years. Its orbit is eccentric, with an aphelion estimated at 937 AU. This perihelion was the largest of that of any known Solar System object until the discovery of 2012 VP113, at its aphelion, Sedna orbits the Sun at a mere 4% of Earths orbital speed. When Sedna was discovered it was 89.6 AU from the Sun approaching perihelion, Eris was later detected by the same survey near aphelion at 97 AU. Only the orbits of some long-period comets extend farther than that of Sedna, when first discovered, Sedna was thought to have an unusually long rotational period. It was initially speculated that Sednas rotation was slowed by the pull of a large binary companion. Sedna has a V-band absolute magnitude of about 1.8, at the time of its discovery it was the intrinsically brightest object found in the Solar System since Pluto in 1930
29.
90482 Orcus
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90482 Orcus, provisional designation 2004 DW, is a trans-Neptunian object from the Kuiper belt with a large moon, Vanth. It was discovered on 17 February 2004, by American astronomers Michael Brown of Caltech, Chad Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory, precovery images taken by the Palomar Observatory as early as 1951, were later obtained from the Digitized Sky Survey. It is probably a dwarf planet, Orcus is a plutino, a trans-Neptunian object that is locked in a 2,3 resonance with the ice giant Neptune, making two revolutions around the Sun to every three of Neptunes. This is much like Pluto, except that it is constrained to always be in the phase of its orbit from Pluto, Orcus is at aphelion when Pluto is at perihelion. Moreover, the aphelion of Orcuss orbit points in nearly the direction from Plutos, although the eccentricities. Because of these similarities and contrasts, along with its large moon Vanth that recalls Plutos large moon Charon and this was a major consideration in selecting its name, as the deity Orcus was the Etruscan equivalent of the Roman Pluto, and later became an alternate name for Pluto. The surface of Orcus is relatively bright with albedo reaching 30%, grey in color, the ice is predominantly in crystalline form, which may be related to past cryovolcanic activity. Other compounds like methane or ammonia may also be present, the existence of a satellite allowed astronomers to determine the mass of the system, which is approximately equal to that of the Saturnian moon Tethys. The ratio of masses of Orcus and Vanth is uncertain, possibly anywhere from 1,33 to 1,12, the diameter of Orcus is estimated to be 761 or 807 km and the diameter of Vanth 378 or 267 km respectively, depending on their relative albedos. Orcus is in 2,3 orbital resonance with Neptune, having a period of 247 years. Orcuss orbit is similar to Plutos, but is oriented differently, although at one point its orbit approaches that of Neptune, the resonance between the two bodies means that Orcus itself is always a great distance away from Neptune. Over a 14, 000-year period Orcus stays more than 18 AU from Neptune, because their mutual resonance with Neptune constrains Orcus and Pluto to remain in opposite phases of their otherwise very similar motions, Orcus is sometimes described as the anti-Pluto. Orcus is currently 48.0 AU from the Sun and will come to aphelion in 2019, simulations by the Deep Ecliptic Survey show that over the next 10 million years Orcus can acquire a perihelion distance as small as 27.8 AU. The rotation period of the primary is not known, different photometric surveys have produced different results. Some show low amplitude variations with periods ranging from 7 to 21 hours, however, the value obtained by Ortiz et al. about 10.5 hours, seems to be the most likely one. The rotational poles of Orcus probably coincide with the poles of its moon. This means that Orcus is currently viewed pole-on, which could explain the absence of any rotational modulation of its brightness. If, however, the primary is tidally locked with the satellite,2004 DW was named after the Roman god of the underworld, Orcus, counterpart of the Greek Pluto
30.
(175113) 2004 PF115
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2004 PF115 is a trans-Neptunian object. It was discovered in 2006 by M. Brown, C, the size of 2004 PF115 was measured by the Herschel Space Telescope to be 406. 3+97.6 −75.3 km. Orbit simulation from NASA JPL site Orbital details from the IAU Minor Planets Center 2004 PF115 at the JPL Small-Body Database Discovery · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters
31.
120347 Salacia
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120347 Salacia, provisional designation 2004 SB60, is a trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt, approximately 850 kilometers in diameter and almost certainly a dwarf planet. Salacia was discovered on 22 September 2004, by American astronomers Henry Roe, Michael Brown and Kristina Barkume at the Palomar Observatory in California and it has been observed 100 times, with precovery images back to 1982. Salacia orbits the Sun at a distance that is slightly larger than that of Pluto. It was named after the Roman goddess Salacia and has a single known moon, which may be a non-distinction if they are part of a single population that formed during the outward migration of Neptune. Salacias orbit is within the space of the Haumea collisional family. The total mass of the Salacia–Actaea system is ×1020 kg, of which some 96% should be in Salacia itself, Salacia is large enough that it is unlikely to have a significant porosity and is likely differentiated. A rocky core can be 0. 4–0.65 of the diameter of Salacia if its water-ice mantle is non-porous. Salacia has the lowest albedo and density known of any known big trans-Neptunian object, salacias infrared spectrum is almost featureless, indicating an abundance of water ice of less than 5% on the surface. Its light-curve amplitude is only 3%, mike Browns website lists Salacia as nearly certainly a dwarf planet, but the IAU has not formally recognized it as such. Salacia has one satellite, Actaea, that orbits its primary every 5. 49380±0.00016 d at a distance of 5619±89 km. It was discovered on 21 July 2006 by Keith S. Noll, Harold Levison, Denise Stephens, Actaea is 2. 372±0.060 magnitudes fainter than Salacia, implying a diameter ratio of 2.98 for equal albedos. Hence, assuming equal albedos, it has a diameter of 286±24 km Actaea has the color as Salacia. The ratio of its axis to its primarys Hill radius is 0.0023. Salacia and Actaea will next occult each other in 2067 and this minor planet was named after Salacia, the goddess of salt water and the wife of Neptune. Naming citation was published on 18 February 2011, the moons name, Actaea /ækˈtiːə/, was assigned on the same date. Actaea is a nereid or sea nymph, Salacia at Johnstons Archive Salacia, As big as Ceres, but much farther away 120347 Salacia at the JPL Small-Body Database Discovery · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters
32.
(120348) 2004 TY364
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2004 TY364, also written as 2004 TY364, is a trans-Neptunian object. It is an inner classical Kuiper belt object in the definition by Gladman, Marsden and its inclination of almost 25 degrees disqualifies it as such in Marc Buies definition. It is also not listed as a scattered disc object by the Minor Planet Center and it was discovered by Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo and David L. Rabinowitz on October 3,2004 at the Palomar Observatory. With an absolute magnitude of 4.5, it is likely a dwarf planet, however, light-curve analysis has questioned whether it really is one. As of 2014, it is 39.2 AU from the Sun,2004 TY364 at the JPL Small-Body Database Discovery · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters
33.
Haumea
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Haumea, minor-planet designation 136108 Haumea, is a dwarf planet located beyond Neptunes orbit. On September 17,2008, it was recognized as a planet by the International Astronomical Union and named after Haumea. Haumeas mass is about one-third that of Pluto, and 1/1400 that of Earth, although its shape has not been directly observed, calculations from its light curve indicate that it is a triaxial ellipsoid, with its major axis twice as long as its minor. Its gravity is thought to be sufficient for it to have relaxed into hydrostatic equilibrium, two teams claim credit for the discovery of Haumea. Mike Brown and his team at Caltech discovered Haumea in December 2004 on images they had taken on May 6,2004, on July 20,2005, they published an online abstract of a report intended to announce the discovery at a conference in September 2005. At around this time, José Luis Ortiz Moreno and his team at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía at Sierra Nevada Observatory in Spain found Haumea on images taken on March 7–10,2003. Ortiz emailed the Minor Planet Center with their discovery on the night of July 27,2005, Ortiz later admitted he had accessed the Caltech observation logs but denied any wrongdoing, stating he was merely verifying whether they had discovered a new object. However, the IAU announcement on September 17,2008, that Haumea had been accepted as a dwarf planet, did not mention a discoverer. Until it was given a permanent name, the Caltech discovery team used the nickname Santa among themselves, because they had discovered Haumea on December 28,2004, the Spanish team were the first to file a claim for discovery to the Minor Planet Center, in July 2005. On July 29,2005, Haumea was given the provisional designation 2003 EL61, on September 7,2006, it was numbered and admitted into the official minor planet catalogue as 2003 EL61. The names were proposed by David Rabinowitz of the Caltech team, Haumea is the matron goddess of the island of Hawaiʻi, where the Mauna Kea Observatory is located. The two known moons, also believed to have formed in this manner, are named after two of Haumeas daughters, Hiʻiaka and Nāmaka. The proposal by the Ortiz team, Ataecina, did not meet IAU naming requirements, Haumea is a plutoid, a dwarf planet beyond Neptunes orbit. Haumea appears to have an ellipsoid shape resulting its rapid rotation complicated by tidal interactions with its moons. This contrasts with the simpler oblate shape typically assumed by less rapidly rotating astronomical bodies such as the Earth, in other words, Haumea is spinning so fast that if it spun much faster these bulges would distort into a dumbbell shape and split the planet in two. Haumea was initially listed as a classical Kuiper belt object in 2006 by the Minor Planet Center, the nominal trajectory suggests that it is in the weak 7,12 resonance with Neptune, because its perihelion distance of 35 AU is near the limit of stability with Neptune. There are precovery images of Haumea dating back to March 22,1955 from the Palomar Mountain Digitized Sky Survey, further observations of the orbit will be required to verify its dynamic status. Haumea has a period of 284 Earth years, a perihelion of 35 AU
34.
Makemake
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Makemake is a dwarf planet and perhaps the largest Kuiper belt object in the classical population, with a diameter approximately two thirds that of Pluto. Makemake has one satellite, S/20151. Makemake’s extremely low temperature, about 30 K, means its surface is covered with methane, ethane. Makemake was discovered on March 31,2005, by a led by Michael E. Brown. Initially, it was known as 2005 FY9 and later given the minor-planet number 136472, Makemake was recognized as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union in July 2008. Its name derives from Makemake in the mythology of the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island. Makemake was discovered on March 31,2005, by a team at the Palomar Observatory, led by Michael E. Brown, despite its relative brightness, Makemake was not discovered until well after many much fainter Kuiper belt objects. Most searches for minor planets are conducted relatively close to the ecliptic, besides Pluto, Makemake is the only other dwarf planet that was bright enough that Clyde Tombaugh could have detected it during his search for trans-Neptunian planets around 1930. At the time of Tombaughs survey, Makemake was only a few degrees from the ecliptic, near the border of Taurus and Auriga, at an apparent magnitude of 16.0. This position, however, was very near the Milky Way. Tombaugh continued searching for years after the discovery of Pluto. The provisional designation 2005 FY9 was given to Makemake when the discovery was made public, before that, the discovery team used the codename Easterbunny for the object, because of its discovery shortly after Easter. In July 2008, in accordance with IAU rules for classical Kuiper belt objects,2005 FY9 was given the name of a creator deity. The name of Makemake, the creator of humanity and god of fertility in the myths of the Rapa Nui, as of December 2015, Makemake is 52.4 AU from the Sun, almost as far from the Sun as it ever reaches on its orbit. Makemake follows a very similar to that of Haumea, highly inclined at 29°. Nevertheless, Makemakes orbit is farther from the Sun in terms of both the semi-major axis and perihelion. Its orbital period is nearly 310 years, more than Plutos 248 years, both Makemake and Haumea are currently far from the ecliptic—the angular distance is almost 29°. Makemake is approaching its 2033 aphelion, whereas Haumea passed its aphelion in early 1992, Makemake is a classical Kuiper belt object, which means its orbit lies far enough from Neptune to remain stable over the age of the Solar System
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Dysnomia (moon)
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Dysnomia —officially Eris I Dysnomia—is the only known moon of the dwarf planet Eris. Observations taken on 10 September revealed a moon in orbit around Eris, in keeping with the Xena nickname that was already in use for Eris, the moon was nicknamed Gabrielle by its discoverers, after Xenas sidekick. It is 60 times fainter than Eris in the K band and 480 times fainter in the V band, which means a very different, and quite redder, spectrum, indicating a significantly darker surface. Assuming its albedo is five times lower than Eriss, its diameter would be 685±50 km, of the Solar Systems dwarf planet and minor planet moons, only Charon is definitely larger than Dysnomia. Combining Keck and Hubble observations, the satellite was used to determine the mass of Eris and its orbital period is calculated to be 15. 774±0.002 d. These observations indicate that Dysnomia has an orbit around Eris. This shows that the mass of Eris is 1.27 times that of Pluto, astronomers now know that the four brightest Kuiper belt objects have satellites. Among the fainter members of the only about 10% are known to have satellites. This is thought to imply that collisions between large KBOs have been frequent in the past, impacts between bodies of the order of 1000 km across would throw off large amounts of material that would coalesce into a moon. A similar mechanism is thought to have led to the formation of the Moon when Earth was struck by a giant impactor early in the history of the Solar System. Mike Brown, the discoverer, chose the name Dysnomia due to a number of associations it had for him. Dysnomia, the daughter of Eris, fits the general historically established pattern of naming moons after lesser gods associated with the primary god, also, the English translation of Dysnomia, lawlessness, echoes Lucy Lawless, the actress famous for starring in Xena, Warrior Princess on television. Before receiving their names, Eris and Dysnomia were nicknamed Xena and Gabrielle. James Christy, who discovered Charon, followed the principle established with Pluto by choosing a name which shared its first four letters with his wifes name, Charlene. Dysnomia, similarly, has the same first letter as Browns wife, Diane, and Brown uses the nickname Dy /ˈdaɪ/ for the moon, because of this, Brown pronounces the full name /daɪsˈnoʊmiə/, with a long y. Media related to Dysnomia at Wikimedia Commons
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(225088) 2007 OR10
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2007 OR10 is a trans-Neptunian object orbiting the Sun in the scattered disc, approximately 1500 kilometers in diameter. It is the third-largest known body in the Solar System past the orbit of Neptune, according to current estimates as of May 2016, it is slightly larger than Makemake or Haumea, and is hence almost certainly a dwarf planet. 2007 OR10 was discovered by California Institute of Technology astronomers as part of the PhD thesis of Megan E. Schwamb, Brown nicknamed the object Snow White for its presumed white color, because it would have to be very large or very bright to be detected by their survey. It was also the seventh dwarf discovered by Browns team, after Quaoar in 2002, Sedna in 2003, Haumea and Orcus in 2004, and Makemake and Eris in 2005. However,2007 OR10 turned out to be one of the reddest objects in the Kuiper belt, comparable only to Quaoar,2007 OR10 is currently the largest known object in the Solar System without an official name. However, as of 2015, Brown had yet to propose a name,2007 OR10 came to perihelion around 1857. As of February 2016 it is located 87.5 AU from the Sun and this makes it the third-farthest known large body in the Solar System, after V774104 and Eris, and farther out than Sedna. It has been farther from the Sun than Sedna since 2013,2007 OR10 will be farther than both Sedna and Eris by 2045, and it will reach aphelion in 2130. The size of an object can be calculated from its absolute magnitude,2007 OR10 has an absolute magnitude of 1.92, which makes it the fifth-brightest TNO known, a little less bright than Sedna and brighter than Orcus. 2007 OR10 is among the reddest objects known and this is probably in part due to methane frosts, which turn red when bombarded by sunlight and cosmic rays. The spectrum of 2007 OR10 shows signatures for both ice and methane, which makes it similar in composition to Quaoar. The presence of red methane frost on the surfaces of both 2007 OR10 and Quaoar implies the existence of a methane atmosphere on both objects, slowly evaporating into space. Although 2007 OR10 comes closer to the Sun than Quaoar, and is warm enough that a methane atmosphere should evaporate. In particular,2007 OR10s large size means that it is likely to retain even nitrogen, the presence of water ice on the surface of 2007 OR10 implies a brief period of cryovolcanism in its distant past. The Deep Ecliptic Survey shows the orbit to be in a 3,10 resonance with Neptune, the MPC lists it as a scattered-disc object. 2007 OR10 was discovered when searching for objects in the region of Sedna,2007 OR10 has been observed 46 times over seven oppositions with a precovery image from 1985. It was formally announced on 7 January 2009, the IAU has not addressed the possibility of accepting additional dwarf planets since before the discovery of 2007 OR10 was announced. If the orbit of OR10s small satellite can be determined, its mass could be calculated directly
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2008 ST291
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2008 ST291, also written as 2008 ST291, is a trans-Neptunian object with an absolute magnitude of 4.2, making it possibly a dwarf planet. 2008 ST291 is estimated to be about 612 kilometres in diameter, however, because its albedo is unknown and it has an absolute magnitude of 4.2, it could be anywhere between 370 and 820 km in diameter. 2008 ST291, currently 60.1 AU from the Sun and it takes over one thousand years to orbit the Sun. Of the known and suspected dwarf planets, only Sedna,2012 VP113 and 2005 QU182 are known to have longer orbits,2008 ST291 has only been observed 26 times over three oppositions and has an orbit quality of 5
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Romulus (moon)
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Romulus is the outer and larger moon of the main-belt asteroid 87 Sylvia, not to be confused with the directly Sun-orbiting asteroid 10386 Romulus. It follows an almost-circular close-to-equatorial orbit around the parent asteroid, in this respect it is similar to the other moon Remus. Romulus was discovered in February 2001 from the Keck II telescope by Michael E. Brown and its full designation is Sylvia I Romulus, before receiving its name, it was known as S/20011. The moon is named after Romulus, the founder of Rome. 87 Sylvia has a low density, which indicates that it is probably a rubble pile formed when debris from a collision between its parent body and another asteroid re-accreted gravitationally. Therefore, it is likely that both Romulus and Remus, the second of Sylvias moons, are smaller rubble piles which accreted in orbit around the body from debris of the same collision. In this case their albedo and density are expected to be similar to Sylvias, Romulus orbit is expected to be quite stable − it lies far inside Sylvias Hill sphere, but also far outside the synchronous orbit. From Romulus surface, Sylvia takes up an angular region 16°×10° across, IAUC7590, confirming the discovery of S/20011 IAUC8582, reporting discovery of S/20041 and naming Romulus and Remus
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Linus (moon)
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Kalliope I Linus is an asteroid moon that orbits the large M-type asteroid 22 Kalliope. It was discovered on August 29,2001, by astronomers Jean-Luc Margot and Michael E. Brown with the Keck telescope, another team also detected the moon with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on September 2,2001. Both telescopes are on Mauna Kea and it received the provisional designation S/20011, until it was named. The naming proposal appeared in the paper and was approved by the International Astronomical Union in July 2003. With an estimated 28 ±2 km diameter, Linus is very large compared to most asteroid moons, the only known larger moons in the main belt are the smaller components of the double asteroids 617 Patroclus and 90 Antiope. It has been estimated that Linus orbit precesses at quite a rapid rate and this is attributed primarily to the non-spherical shape of Kalliope. Linuss brightness has varied appreciably between observations, which may indicate that its shape is elongated, Linus may have formed out of impact ejecta from a collision with Kalliope, or a fragment captured after disruption of a parent asteroid
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