Understanding the new solar system - Scientific American

The solar system - our sun and the planets and other bodies that orbit it - has remained essentially the same for hundreds of millions of years. What, then, is the New Solar System? Quite simply what's new is our understanding of what in fact makes up the solar system, and our deeper understanding of long-known objects such as the planets, their satellites, comets and asteroids. The ancient Romans observed and noted the motions of the known planets at that time but it wasn't until 1781 that Uranus was discovered. Neptune was discovered in 1846 and Pluto was discovered in 1930. Pluto's moon, CHARON, was only discovered in 1978, or about the time that robotic exploration of the solar system became a serious undertaking. UNDERSTANDING THE NEW SOLAR SYSTEM reveals the latest knowledge of the composition and nature of our solar family. Here you'll discover what lies beyond the orbit of Pluto, which solar body is the most volcanically active, and which solar system bodies have atmospheres and may harbour primitive life, and much, much more.