%0 Book %A National Research Council %T Exploring the Trans-Neptunian Solar System %@ 978-0-309-06041-7 %D 1998 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/6080/exploring-the-trans-neptunian-solar-system %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/6080/exploring-the-trans-neptunian-solar-system %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Space and Aeronautics %P 60 %R doi:10.17226/6080 %X In the last decade, our knowledge of the outer solar system has been transformed as a result of the Voyager 2 encounter with Neptune and its satellite Triton and from Earth-based observations of the Pluto-Charon system. However, the planetary system does not simply end at the distance of Pluto and Neptune. In the past few years, dozens of bodies have been discovered in near-circular, low inclination orbits near or beyond the orbit of Neptune. These bodies are now believed to be directly related to each other and to Pluto, Charon, and Triton, and as a class they define and occupy the inner boundary of a hitherto unexplored component of the solar system, the trans-neptunian region. Exploring the Trans-Neptunian Solar System reviews current understanding of the trans-neptunian solar system and makes recommendations for the future exploration of this distant realm.