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Caltech News Release
Contact: Mark Wheeler
         (626) 395-8733
         wheel{at}caltech.edu

For Immediate Release
May 14, 2003

Quaoar and the Edge of the Solar System

PASADENA, Calif. - Since the invention of the telescope, the known 
edge of our solar system has slowly receded, first with the discovery 
of Uranus, then Neptune, and finally Pluto.

But in the past decade, astronomers have realized that even Pluto is 
not the true edge of the solar system; it is merely a member of a 
vast swarm of icy, planet-shaped objects called planetesimals that 
orbit in a region known as the Kuiper Belt.

On Wednesday, May 21, Michael E. Brown, an associate professor of 
planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, will 
address a number of provocative questions raised by this realization 
in his talk, "Quaoar and the Edge of the Solar System," one of the 
ongoing Earnest C. Watson Lecture Series that take place on the 
Caltech campus. Such questions include: What makes a body a planet? 
Where is the true edge of the solar system? What lies in the 
uncharted regions beyond the known solar system? Such questions will 
be addressed along with a glimpse into the most recent research into 
the exploration of the outer solar system.

Last June, Brown and postdoctoral researcher Chad Trujillo discovered 
a spherical body orbiting the outer edge of our solar system that was 
almost as big as Pluto itself. They named it Quaoar, (pronounced 
KWAH-o-ar) after the creation force of the Tongva tribe, who were the 
original inhabitants of the Los Angeles basin.

Quaoar provided further proof that Pluto is not the true edge of the 
solar system, but merely one of many objects that orbit within the 
Kuiper belt, which is located some four billion miles from Earth. 
This is the area where comets originate and also where planetary 
scientists have long expected to eventually find larger planet-shaped 
objects like Quaoar, which is the largest object found so far in that 
search.

For over 81 years Caltech has offered the Watson Lecture Series, ever 
since it was conceived by the late Caltech physicist Earnest Watson 
as a way to explain science to the local community. The lecture will 
take place at 8 p.m. in Beckman Auditorium, which is located near 
Michigan Avenue south of Del Mar Boulevard, on Caltech's campus in 
Pasadena. Seating is available on a free, no-ticket-required, 
first-come, first-served basis, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Parking is 
available in the lots south of Del Mar Boulevard between Wilson and 
Chester avenues, and in the parking structures at 341 and 405 South 
Wilson and 370 South Holliston Avenue.

For more information, call 1(888) 2CALTECH (1-888-222-5832) or 
(626)-395-4652. Persons with disabilities: (626)-395-4688 (voice) or 
(626)-395-3700 (TDD).

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