{"id":12357,"date":"2016-03-18T20:41:14","date_gmt":"2016-03-19T00:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12357"},"modified":"2016-03-18T20:41:14","modified_gmt":"2016-03-19T00:41:14","slug":"video-exploring-the-outer-solar-system-in-vivid-color","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12357","title":{"rendered":"Video: Exploring the outer solar system – in vivid color"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Michele Bannister<\/a> of the University of Victoria gave a recent SETI Institute<\/a> seminar on\u00a0Exploring the outer Solar System: now in vivid colour<\/a>\u00a0–<\/p>\n

The outer reaches of our Solar System are home to hundreds of thousands of small icy worlds. Their present orbits are a sculpted signature of the early migrations of the giant planets, particularly Neptune<\/a>. Yet the faintness and highly eccentric orbits of most of these worlds mean only a tiny fraction of them have yet been discovered. <\/em><\/p>\n

With the Outer Solar System Origins Survey<\/a> on CFHT<\/a>, we are discovering up to five hundred new outer Solar System objects, with exquisitely well-determined orbital parameters. Our complementary Large Program on Gemini North<\/a> is observing the brightest of our discoveries in the optical and infrared with unprecedented precision, providing information on the ices, silicates and organic compounds on the surfaces of these small worlds. <\/em><\/p>\n

This colourful map of the structure of the outer Solar System is providing new constraints on Neptune’s migration.<\/em><\/p>\n