By Ira Polans

The March meeting of the AAAP will be held on the 12th at 7:30PM in the auditorium (Room 145) of Peyton Hall on the Princeton University campus

The featured talk is by Scott Tremaine of the Institute for Advanced Study. The topics are Pluto, Sedna, Planet X, the Oort cloud, and Oumuamua: a report on the outer fringes of the solar system

The solar system beyond Neptune is cold and dark, but far from empty, and the composition and orbits of bodies in the outer solar system provide a fossil record of its formation. In this talk he will review what we know and don’t know about the outer solar system. The topics covered will include the origin of Pluto’s peculiar orbit, the puzzle of the formation of Sedna, our current understanding of the Oort comet cloud, and a comparison of the candidates for a hypothetical Planet X. Finally, he will describe some of the puzzles arising from the recent discovery of an interstellar asteroid/comet, ʻOumuamua.

Prior to the meeting here will be a meet-the-speaker dinner at 6PM at Winberie’s in Palmer Square. If you are planning to attend please contact program@princetonastronomy.org by noon on March 12.