This book, the first in a series of forthcoming volumes, consists of topical and timely reviews of a number of carefully selected topics in solar systemn science. Contributions, in form of up-to-date reviews, are mainly aimed at professional astronomers and planetary scientists wishing to inform themselves about progress in fields closely related to their own field of expertise.

Welcome to the proceedings of APPT 2005: the 6th International Workshop on Advanced Parallel Processing Technologies. APPT is a biennial workshop on parallel and distributed processing. Its scope covers all aspects of parallel and distributed computing technologies, including architectures, software systems and tools, algorithms, and applications. APPT originated from collaborations by researchers from China and Germany and has evolved to be an international workshop. APPT 2005 was the sixth in the series. The past ?ve workshops were held in Beijing, Koblenz, Changsha, Ilmenau, and Xiamen, respectively. The Program Committee is pleased to present the proceedings for APPT 2005. This year, APPT 2005 received over 220 submissions from researchers all over the world. All the papers were peer reviewed by two to three Program Committee members on their relevance, originality, signi?cance, technical qu- ity, and presentation. Based on the review result, 55 high-quality papers were selected to be included in the proceedings. The papers in this volume represent the forefront of research on parallel processing and related ?elds by researchers from China, Germany, USA, Korea, India, and other countries. The papers - cepted cover a wide range of exciting topics, including architectures, software, networking, and applications.

Covers 180 features of Earth's solar system, including every major body and phenomenon, offering detailed basic information on all major aspects.

A new frontier in our solar system opened with the discovery of the Kuiper Belt and the extensive population of icy bodies orbiting beyond Neptune. Today the study of all of these bodies, collectively referred to as trans-Neptunian objects, reveals them to be frozen time capsules from the earliest epochs of solar system formation. This new volume in the Space Science Series, with one hundred contributing authors, offers the most detailed and up-to-date picture of our solar systemÕs farthest frontier. Our understanding of trans-Neptunian objects is rapidly evolving and currently constitutes one of the most active research fields in planetary sciences. The Solar System Beyond Neptune brings the reader to the forefront of our current understanding and points the way to further advancement in the field, making it an indispensable resource for researchers and students in planetary science.