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W. Romanishin (U. of Oklahoma)
I will briefly review the newly found classes of outer solar system objects including Kuiper Belt Objects, Centaurs, and scattered disk objects. The Centaurs, objects that cross the orbits of the outer planets, are presumably objects that started out in the Kuiper Belt and are perhaps dynamically evolving into orbits in the inner solar system, where they might be seen as comets. Only 1 or 2 of the several dozen known Centaurs have been reported to show cometary activity. Photometric monitoring of the brighter Centaurs would be valuable to look for intermittent episodes of brightening due to cometary activity.
My work on minor bodies in the outer solar system is partially supported by the NASA Planetary Astronomy Program.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #2
© YEAR. The American Astronomical Soceity.