I will have to give a public talk on TNOs in mid-April (including the recent discovery of 2003 UB313 etc.). That will be the local (Hannover, Germany) astronomy club's monthly presentation of an astronomy-related topic.

I already collected some material, but it would be great if you could point me to additional web-based or other sources (publications, review papers) on that topic (eg. origin, nature, ... of TNOs).

Thanks,
Michael

Are you familiar with the Distant EKOs electronic newsletter? It is devoted on the TNOs, and has many lists of papers on the subject.

Thanks, that's a very interesting page . I didn't know that one.

Michael

Here's a list of topics you could cover

Population types
color vs distance
orbital parameters (plutinos, resonances with Neptune, classic, scattered disk)
Oddball orbits (maybe affected by a passing star)
Size
Effect of Milky Way/etc on discovery (harder to look for TNOs near galactic plane)
Formation
Binaries, by collisions and capture
Pluto/Charon/minor moons
Pluto's albedo differences
New Horizons

And:

Other spacecraft explorations
TNOs as a part of the evolving perception of the history of the Solar System
Make-up

Bob Shaw

Thanks hendric and Bob!
I will include most of the topics you proposed.

Michael

Also, you might want to discuss 2003 UB313 as a separate, unique topic, Indeed, the latest findings indicate that it's quite bright, with an unusually uniform surface. Later!

J P