Speaker：Dr. Nuno Peixinho (Unidad de Astronomia, Universidad de Antofagasta, Chile)

　　Abstract：Since the discovery of the Kuiper Belt, a large reservoir of icy bodies beyond Neptune, twenty and two years ago, the study of these minor bodies and the implications of their existence and their evolution has been one of the most active areas of research in Astronomy and Planetary Sciences. Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), a.k.a. Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), separate in several dynamical families, and exhibit dramatically different surfaces. Identifying the interconnections between orbital parameters, dynamical families, and surface properties, is the most fundament starting point to the understanding of the reasons for this diversity and the physical processes involved. Regardless of the growing knowledge of surface spectra and albedos for the brighter and larger of these objects, one cannot see the forest for the trees. It seems that the smaller objects carry the best kept secrets and multicolor photometry is the only statistically relevant characterization of their surface properties. As always… there is more than meets the eye.

  　Time：Dec 12, 2:00pm (12月12日，星期五，下午2点）

　　Place：meeting room 317

欢迎大家积极参加！

　                                                 　紫金山天文台学术委员会