Solar System : Trans-Neptunian Objects [ TNOs ]

[The Man in Black]

Our solar system is truly a wonderful place, and the more you look at it, the more you can see that it's perfectly designed to accommodate life on Earth. The kuiper belt is certainly interesting, and we continue to discover objects that lie in it's orbit. The main reason that Pluto was downgraded from planetary status would be that we would have an enormous amount of objects in the Kuiper belt that would have to be classified as such. What I would be interested to see in my lifetime is a probe sent to the Saturn moon of Titan to see what mysteries hide under it's dense atmosphere. Another one I'd like to see is to the Jupiter moon Europa, where there are wild speculations of life under the icy surface, where vast oceans may lie. Hell, if dolphins are intelligent animals, what's not to say we don't have other intelligent life within our own solar system??? Nothing, IMO. Speaking of objects beyond the Kuiper belt, have any of you guys heard the ridiculous theories that are coming out in order to explain a potential astronomical event that could trigger 2012? One is the idea that the sun is in a binary orbit with another star (as most stars in the universe are) and that the other star could come crashing into our orbits in 2012...this is largely disproven though, due to the fact that the nearest stars are lightyears away and not moving towards the sun at all. Another one is that there could be a black hole hurtling through space on a collision course with Earth...this is interesting because there would be no form of detection or prevention against something like this, but obviously the statistical probability of this happening is incredibly small. Yet another idea is that there is an asteroid we have tabs on that is projected to come within .05 Astronomical Units from the Earth on December 21, 2012 (interesting that it comes that close on the exact day, huh?) that is big enough to wipe out our human population. While that isn't close enough to do any damage, there is a small probability that it could miraculously collide. Ah, the universe is so fascinating, isn't it?...just some thoughts for the mind