Understanding how our Solar System formed 4.5 billion years ago and how it has evolved since then is one of the great challenges of modern astrophysics. The James Webb Telescope (JWST) now in operation and the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) currently being built by ESO in Chile will be instrumental in providing unprecedented observations of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and centaurs this decade. TNOs are small distant bodies and among the most primitive of the Solar System, since they are the original remnants of the outer part of the proto-solar disk. Moreover, because of the giant planet migration, these objects could have brought volatile species to more inner planets like Earth, conditioning their evolution and habitability. Therefore, the study of TNOs is crucial for proposing formation and evolution scenarios and for answering open questions about the origin of our Solar System. In this seminar we will review what we know about the chemical composition and physical properties of the main TNOs. Then we will present the ongoing work to prepare their future observations with the ELT.
Carmelo Arcidiacono
