"For reasons I don't really understand the outer solar system, and the potential for life there, has not been a high priority".
The 1.8m (60-inch) diameter telescope on Haleakala will also spot many small, faint bodies in the outer Solar System that hid from previous surveys.
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Without it such a galaxy's outer parts would spin more slowly than the inner ones (just as the outer planets of the solar system move around the sun more slowly than the earth does).
Once their missions were accomplished, they carried on into the outer reaches of the solar system.
Nanosats could also act as relays for spacecraft sent to the outer reaches of the solar system.
Probes have shown us stunning images of the rings of Saturn and the outer planets of our solar system.
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Comets, which originate from the outer reaches of the solar system, are faster moving and harder to track than asteroids, but carry just as much potential for catastrophe.
The decreased allocation of funds to NASA programs was reported in the press as early as Feb. 13, lowering available funds for planetary science programs that support Mars exploration and missions to outer planets in the Solar System.
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By using lasers, NASA is now on the verge of revolutionizing and speeding up delivery of data now dispatched from outer space and all around the solar system, the agency said.
Small planets, like the inner four in our own solar system, are rocky - larger ones, like the outer four, aren't much more than balls of gas.
And the hole's outer edge is roughly where rocky planets, like the inner planets of this solar system (including the earth), are expected to be.
The Sun's magnetic field and solar wind - mainly in the form of electrons and protons coming out of the Sun - protects the entire Solar System by acting as a sort of shield from cosmic rays (very energetic particles and radiation from outer space).
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