scholarly journals Comets and the Connection to Life

2004 ◽  
Vol 213 ◽  
pp. 263-270
Author(s):  
K. J. Meech ◽  
J. M. Bauer
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Outer Solar System ◽  
Evolutionary Processes ◽  
Small Bodies ◽  
Kuiper Belt Object ◽  
Solar System Small Bodies

We present a summary of ground-based work being done to gain an understanding of primitive comet, Centaur and Kuiper belt object compositions. We are seeing a diversity of compositions in outer solar system small bodies with respect to the presence of water and organics which may reflect both primordial differences and evolutionary processes.

scholarly journals The geology and geophysics of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 367 (6481) ◽  
pp. eaay3999 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Spencer ◽  
S. A. Stern ◽  
J. M. Moore ◽  
H. A. Weaver ◽  
K. N. Singer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Smooth Surface ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Solar System Formation ◽  
Small Bodies ◽  
Kuiper Belt Object ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Geological Features ◽  
Solar System Bodies ◽  
Contact Binary

The Cold Classical Kuiper Belt, a class of small bodies in undisturbed orbits beyond Neptune, is composed of primitive objects preserving information about Solar System formation. In January 2019, the New Horizons spacecraft flew past one of these objects, the 36-kilometer-long contact binary (486958) Arrokoth (provisional designation 2014 MU69). Images from the flyby show that Arrokoth has no detectable rings, and no satellites (larger than 180 meters in diameter) within a radius of 8000 kilometers. Arrokoth has a lightly cratered, smooth surface with complex geological features, unlike those on previously visited Solar System bodies. The density of impact craters indicates the surface dates from the formation of the Solar System. The two lobes of the contact binary have closely aligned poles and equators, constraining their accretion mechanism.

Col-OSSOS: Investigating Outlying Surfaces within the Kuiper Belt's Neutral Coloured Objects

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Buchanan ◽  
Megan Schwamb ◽  
Wesley Fraser ◽  
Michele Bannister ◽  
Michaël Marsset ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Outer Solar System ◽  
Kuiper Belt Object ◽  
Broadband Absorption ◽  
Colour Measurements ◽  
Infrared Spectral ◽  
Colour Distribution ◽  
Absorption Features

<p>Within the outer Solar System exists the Kuiper belt. This Kuiper belt is made up of many icy planetesimals, the remaining relics of planet-forming bodies that failed to evolve into a planet beyond Neptune. The smaller members of the Kuiper belt (with <em>r</em> mag > 22) generally show linear and featureless spectra. Additionally, due to the dimness of these objects observing their spectra can be particularly difficult. Therefore, broadband photometry is often used to characterise their surfaces. The broadband photometry can be used as a proxy for composition, as it provides enough information to characterise the optical and near-infrared spectral slopes ofthese Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) surfaces.</p> <p>The Colours of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (Col-OSSOS, Schwamb et al., 2019) took near-simultaneous <em>g-</em>, <em>r-</em> and <em>J-band</em> broadband photometry of a sample of KBOs with unprecedented precision using the Gemini North telescope. As with previous colour surveys (e.g. Tegler et al., 2016), they showed abimodal colour distribution in optical / near-infrared colours for the dynamically ‘hot’ population. We split this colour distribution into the ‘neutral’ coloured population with <em>(</em><em>g−r</em><em>)</em> < 0.75 and the ‘red’ coloured populationwith <em>(</em><em>g−r</em><em>)</em> ≥ 0.75.</p> <p>The preciseness of the colour measurements of Col-OSSOS has allowed the identification of several KBOs with outlying surface colours. These objects separated out from the rest of the neutral cloud in <em>(</em><em>g−r</em><em>)</em> versus <em>(r−J</em><em>)</em> colours, with <em>(</em><em>g−r</em><em>)</em> colour near solar colour. Using the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii we have taken extra photometry in the <em>i</em><em>−</em> and <em>z−</em><em>bands</em> for three of these objects (2013 JE64, 2013 JR65 and 2014 UL225). These additional filter observations will allow us to identify any possible broadband absorption features on these object’s surfaces that may have caused their outlying surface colours. Asteroid interloper 2004 EW95 (Seccull et al., 2018), along with some Jupiter Trojans and C-type asteroids (Bus & Binzel, 2002; DeMeo & Carry,2013) have been shown to have similar near solar neutral surfaces. In this presentation we will report resultsof the <em>griz</em> photometry of 2013 JE64, 2013 JR65 and 2014 UL225. We will make comparisons between these results and the photometry of previously identified outlying KBOs and comment on any possible similarities.</p> <p><strong>References</strong></p> <p>Bus, S. J., & Binzel, R. P. 2002, Icarus, 158, 146<br />DeMeo, F. E., & Carry, B. 2013, Icarus, 226, 723<br />Schwamb, M. E., Bannister, M. T., Marsset, M., et al. 2019, ApJS, 243, 12<br />Seccull, T., Fraser, W. C., Puzia, T. H., Brown, M. E., & Schönebeck, F. 2018, ApJ, Letters, 855, L26<br />Tegler, S. C., Romanishin, W., Consolmagno, G. J., & J., S. 2016, AJ, 152, 210</p>

scholarly journals Organic Components of Small Bodies in the Outer Solar System: Some Results of the New Horizons Mission

Life ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Dale P. Cruikshank ◽  
Yvonne J. Pendleton ◽  
William M. Grundy
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Space Environment ◽  
Small Bodies ◽  
Orange Pigment ◽  
Kuiper Belt Object ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Organic Components ◽  
Key Indicators ◽  
Complex Organic

The close encounters of the Pluto–Charon system and the Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth (formerly 2014 MU69) by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft in 2015 and 2019, respectively, have given new perspectives on the most distant planetary bodies yet explored. These bodies are key indicators of the composition, chemistry, and dynamics of the outer regions of the Solar System’s nascent environment. Pluto and Charon reveal characteristics of the largest Kuiper Belt objects formed in the dynamically evolving solar nebula inward of ~30 AU, while the much smaller Arrokoth is a largely undisturbed relic of accretion at ~45 AU. The surfaces of Pluto and Charon are covered with volatile and refractory ices and organic components, and have been shaped by geological activity. On Pluto, N2, CO and CH4 are exchanged between the atmosphere and surface as gaseous and condensed phases on diurnal, seasonal and longer timescales, while Charon’s surface is primarily inert H2O ice with an ammoniated component and a polar region colored with a macromolecular organic deposit. Arrokoth is revealed as a fused binary body in a relatively benign space environment where it originated and has remained for the age of the Solar System. Its surface is a mix of CH3OH ice, a red-orange pigment of presumed complex organic material, and possibly other undetected components.

scholarly journals Small Bodies in The Outer Solar System

1999 ◽  
Vol 172 ◽  
pp. 51-54
Author(s):  
Brian G. Marsden
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Absolute Magnitude ◽  
Outer Solar System ◽  
Small Bodies ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
Mean Motion ◽  
Minimum Distances ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
Mean Motion Resonance

This report is a continuation of three earlier reviews (Marsden 1996a, 1996b, 1998) that included a summary of our orbital knowledge of the Kuiper Belt. Presented at conferences held in the middle of 1994, 1995 and 1996, respectively, these reviews showed the steadily developing picture of a system dominated by the platinos, librating in the 2:3 mean-motion resonance with Neptune, and the cubewanos, a somewhat more distant population of nonlibrating objects with low orbital eccentricities. The existence of a 3:4 Neptune librator and a 3:5 Neptune librator was also suspected. These librators have now been confirmed, and a possible 4:7 librator and possible second 3:5 librator have also been found. The known and suspected multiple-opposition librators are listed in Table 1. Here it is important to note that the orbital semimajor axes a (in AU), eccentricities e and inclinations i (in degrees with respect to the 2000.0 ecliptic) are mean values that eliminate the large 12-year and 30-year periodicities arising from the indirect perturbations by Jupiter and Satum on sun-centered orbits. The numbers in parentheses are the semimajor axes (in AU) corresponding to the resonances. Following the absolute magnitude H, the entries “Nep.” and “Ura.” show the minimum distances (in AU) from Neptune and Uranus (the latter being of course quite small for the most eccentric 2:3 Neptune librators) within several millennia of the present time.

scholarly journals Sample return of primitive matter from the outer Solar System

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Vernazza ◽  
Pierre Beck
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Giant Planet ◽  
Small Diameter ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Planetary Science ◽  
Outer Solar System ◽  
Small Bodies ◽  
Sample Return ◽  
Solar System Small Bodies

<p>The last thirty years of cosmochemistry and planetary science have shown that one major Solar System reservoir is vastly undersampled in the available suite of extra-terrestrial materials, namely small bodies that formed in the outer Solar System (>10AU). Because various dynamical evolutionary processes have modified their initial orbits (e.g., giant planet migration, resonances), these objects can be found today across the entire Solar System as P/D near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter and Neptune Trojans, comets, Centaurs, and small (diameter <200km) trans-Neptunian objects. This reservoir is of tremendous interest, as it is recognized as the least processed since the dawn of the Solar System and thus the closest to the starting materials from which the Solar System formed. Some of the next major breakthroughs in planetary science will come from studying outer Solar System samples (volatiles and refractory constituents) in the laboratory. Yet, this can only be achieved by an L-class mission that<br />directly collects and returns to Earth materials from this reservoir. It is thus not surprising that two white papers advocating a sample return<br />mission of a primitive Solar System small body (ideally a comet) were submitted to ESA in response to its call for ideas for future L-class<br />missions in the 2035-2050 time frame. I will present an overview of the ideas listed in one of these two white papers and discuss how such a<br />mission would be complementary to current and future ground based observations of primitive Solar System small bodies.</p>

scholarly journals The Kuiper Belt

1994 ◽  
Vol 160 ◽  
pp. 31-44
Author(s):  
Jane Luu
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Cometary Nucleus ◽  
Outer Solar System ◽  
Short Period Comet ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Lower Limits ◽  
Period Comet

The existence of a belt of comets in the outer solar system (the “Kuiper belt”) has been postulated for a variety of reasons, including the need for a source for the short-period comets. The existence of the belt seems supported by the discoveries of the trans-Neptunian objects 1992 QB1, 1993 FW, 1993 RO, 1993 RP, 1993 SB, and 1993 SC. If these objects are members of the Kuiper belt, crude lower limits on the belt population can be established from the discoveries. The Kuiper belt comets are likely to be primordial remnants of the disk from which the solar system accreted. According to the current theories of cometary nucleus evolution, these objects are expected to possess mantles (“irradiation mantles”) which are different from mantles of comets which have been heated to the point of sublimation (“rubble mantles”). Kuiper belt comets on their way to short-period comet orbits may exist among the Centaur objects.

Near-Simultaneous Optical + NIR Photometry of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Schwamb ◽  
Michele Bannister ◽  
Michael Marsset ◽  
Wesley Fraser ◽  
Rosemary Pike ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Outer Solar System ◽  
Small Bodies ◽  
Near Ir ◽  
Short Period Comet ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Dust Composition ◽  
Survey Sample ◽  
Dust Coma ◽  
Rare Opportunity

<p>In August 2019, 2I/Borisov, the second interstellar object and first visibly active interstellar comet, was discovered on a trajectory nearly perpendicular to the ecliptic. Observations of planet forming disks and debris disks serve as probes of the ensemble properties of extrasolar planetesimals, but the passage of an active interstellar comet through our Solar System provides a rare opportunity to individually study these small bodies up close in the same ways in which we investigate objects originating from our own Outer Solar System. Ground-based observations of short period comet <span>67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko</span> revealed a coma dust composition indistinguishable from what was measured on its nucleus by the orbiting <em>Rosetta</em> spacecraft. Therefore when 2/I Borisov had a dust dominated tail, we attempted to study its composition with near-simultaneous griJ photometry with the Gemini North Telescope. We obtained two epochs of GMOS-N and NIRI observations in November 2019, separated by two weeks. We will report on the inferred optical-near-IR colors of 2I/I Borisov’s dust coma/tail and nucleus. We will compare our measurements to other observations of 2I/Borisov and place the interstellar comet in context with the Col-OSSOS (Colours of the Outer Solar System Survey) sample of small KBOs and interstellar object <span>ʻOumuamua</span> observed in grJ with Gemini North, using the same setup.</p>

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