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Pluto Reference Sites
- NASA: Pluto page,
including fact sheet, images, information on missions, resources.
- General Information: The Nine Planets Pluto page; space.com
Pluto reference pages;
The University of Colorado at Boulder Pluto page;
American Association of Amateur Astronomers Pluto page;
Virtual Journey into the Universe pages;
Plutoportal site; Pluto
Today site.
- Images and Quizzes: Alwyn Botha's The-Solar-System
Pluto page;
JPL page.
- Status of Pluto: International Astronomical Union
1999 clarification page.
- Clyde Tombaugh: 4 February 1997 APOD page.
Kuiper Belt Objects (for the Oort Cloud, see the overview page)
- Kuiper Belt: David Jewitt's page
at the University of Hawaii.
- Trans-Neptunian Objects: IAU official list.
- Centaurs: NASA Chiron page,
including description, fact sheet, images, resources.
- Article: C.A. Trujillo et al., "Large bodies
in the Kuiper Belt", astro-ph/0108428.
Current Exploration
Missions
- New Horizons:
Launched in January 2006, should reach Pluto in
2015, taking advantage of Jupiter's gravity assist in 2006-2007;
In addition to Pluto and Charon, the spacecraft is expected to
study Jupiter intensively during its flyby, and to visit 2-3
other objects in the Kuiper Belt; NASA
page; plutomission.com
page.
Past Plans for Exploration
Missions
- Pluto-Kuiper Express: NASA mission initially scheduled
for 2004 launch, that would have arrived around 2012; put on
indefinite hold in 2000 and cancelled as a result of NASA's 2002
budget; but reborn under a different name...
- POSSE (Pluto and Outer Solar System Explorer): Proposal
selected for further study by NASA in 2001; Would have been launched
in 2004 and flown by Pluto in 2015 to image the planet, examine
its atmosphere and surface, and probe for rings and moons beyond
Charon.
References
- J.K. Davies Beyond Pluto: Exploring the Outer Limits of
the Solar System Cambridge University Press 2001.
- D.H. Levy Clyde Tombaugh: Discoverer of the Planet Pluto Sky & Telescope.
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