scholarly journals Low Velocity Encounters of Minor Bodies With the Outer Planets

1983 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 377-395
Author(s):  
A. Carusi ◽  
E. Perozzi ◽  
G.B. Valsecchi

Previous studies of close encounters of minor bodies with Jupiter have shown that the perturbations are stronger either if the encounter is very deep or if the velocity of the minor body relative to the planet is low. In the present research we investigate the effects of low velocity encounters between fictitious minor bodies and the four outer planets. Two possible outcomes of this type of encounter are the temporary satellite capture of the minor body by the planet, and the exchange of perihelion with aphelion of the minor body orbit. Different occurrence rates of these processes are found for different planets, and the implications for the orbital evolution of minor bodies in the outer Solar System are discussed.

1999 ◽  
Vol 173 ◽  
pp. 31-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Brunini ◽  
J.A. Fernández

AbstractNew numerical simulations of the accretion of the outer solar system were carried out by means of a symplectic integration code developed by the authors. By contrast with our previous numerical experiments, we now pay special attention to the treatment of low relative velocity encounters between planetesimals. Our new results corroborate, in general, a marked radial drift of the accreting outer planets, and that less than 50% of the solid material originally present in the system contributes to the accretion process. The results confirm that mean motion resonances play a major role during the accretion of the outer solar system.


2002 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 243-244
Author(s):  
Ştefan Berinde

Nowadays many attempts are made to establish a qualitative and a quantitative connection between Kuiper Belt Population and Jupiter Family Comets. Basically, this can be thought as a diffusion process throughout the outer Solar System due to multiple close encounters with the giant planets. But, following the path of a body in such a process is not an easy task to be approached analytically nor numerically, because the motion is very chaotic and spread over a long time. A statistical approach seems to be a reasonable way and is the purpose of this paper.


2019 ◽  
Vol 490 (2) ◽  
pp. 2421-2429 ◽  
Author(s):  
A R Poppe

ABSTRACT Interplanetary dust grains originate from a variety of source bodies, including comets, asteroids, and Edgeworth–Kuiper belt objects. Centaurs, generally defined as those objects with orbits that cross the outer planets, have occasionally been observed to exhibit cometary-like outgassing at distances beyond Jupiter, implying that they may be an important source of dust grains in the outer Solar system. Here, we use an interplanetary dust grain dynamics model to study the behaviour and equilibrium distribution of Centaur-emitted interplanetary dust grains. We focus on the five Centaurs with the highest current mass-loss rates: 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, 166P/2001 T4, 174P/Echeclus, C/2001 M10, and P/2004 A1, which together comprise 98 per cent of the current mass loss from all Centaurs. Our simulations show that Centaur-emitted dust grains with radii s < 2 μm have median lifetimes consistent with Poynting–Robertson (P–R) drag lifetimes, while grains with radii s > 2 μm have median lifetimes much shorter than their P–R drag lifetimes, suggesting that dynamical interactions with the outer planets are effective in scattering larger grains, in analogy to the relatively short lifetimes of Centaurs themselves. Equilibrium density distributions of grains emitted from specific Centaurs show a variety of structure including local maxima in the outer Solar system and azimuthal asymmetries, depending on the orbital elements of the parent Centaur. Finally, we compare the total Centaur interplanetary dust density to dust produced from Edgeworth–Kuiper belt objects, Jupiter-family comets, and Oort cloud comets, and conclude that Centaur-emitted dust may be an important component between 5 and 15 au, contributing approximately 25 per cent of the local interplanetary dust density at Saturn.


1992 ◽  
Vol 152 ◽  
pp. 17-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Wisdom

The mapping method of Wisdom (1982) has been generalized to encompass all n-body problems with a dominant central mass (Wisdom and Holman, 1991). The new mapping method is presented as well as a number of initial applications. These include billion year integrations of the outer planets, a number of 100 million year integrations of the whole solar system, and a systematic survey of test particle stability in the outer solar system.


1997 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 401-412
Author(s):  
François Raulin ◽  
Patrice Coll ◽  
Marie-Claire Gazeau ◽  
Paul Bruston

AbstractThere are numerous places in the outer solar system where the formation of the starting ingredients which are involved in the early terrestrial prebiotic chemistry is currently going on. Organic chemistry is largely present in the outer planets, particularly in Titan. Titan has a dense atmosphere, mainly composed of N2and CH4and very rich in organic compounds, both in gas and aerosol phases. Because of the low temperature of Titan’s environment, liquid water is currently absent from the satellite and compounds of low stability at the (Earth) laboratory temperature, and very reactive, are still or may be present. However, Titan study should provide information on prebiotic chemistry – at least prebiotic chemistry in absence of liquid water. This quasi-planet thus appears as a natural laboratory enabling to study prebiotic evolution toward complex organic systems in a planetary environment over a long time scale. A detailed study of such a natural prebiotic laboratory is precisely one of the main objectives of the Cassini-Huygens mission. With the sending of the Cassini orbiter around Saturn and the Huygens probe in the atmosphere of Titan, this mission, due to be launched in October 1997, for a Saturn arrival in 2004, will offer a unique opportunity to study in detail extra-terrestrial prebiotic processes, together with important implications in the field of bioastronomy and the origins of life.


2019 ◽  
Vol 621 ◽  
pp. A102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nahuel Cabral ◽  
Aurélie Guilbert-Lepoutre ◽  
Wesley C. Fraser ◽  
Michaël Marsset ◽  
Kathryn Volk ◽  
...  

Context. Centaurs are icy objects in transition between the trans-Neptunian region and the inner solar system, orbiting the Sun in the giant planet region. Some centaurs display cometary activity, which cannot be sustained by the sublimation of water ice in this part of the solar system, and has been hypothesized to be due to the crystallization of amorphous water ice. Aims. In this work, we investigate centaurs discovered by the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS) and search for cometary activity. Tentative detections would improve understanding of the origins of activity among these objects. Methods. We search for comae and structures by fitting and subtracting both point spread functions and trailed point-spread functions from the OSSOS images of each centaur. When available, Col-OSSOS images were used to search also for comae. Results. No cometary activity is detected in the OSSOS sample. We track the recent orbital evolution of each new centaur to confirm that none would actually be predicted to be active, and we provide size estimates for the objects. Conclusions. The addition of 20 OSSOS objects to the population of ~250 known centaurs is consistent with the currently understood scenario, in which drastic drops in perihelion distance induce changes in the thermal balance prone to trigger cometary activity in the giant planet region.


1996 ◽  
Vol 172 ◽  
pp. 399-406
Author(s):  
L.V. Morrison ◽  
M.E. Buontempo

The Carlsberg astrometric telescope has made about 17000 observations of outer Solar System objects since it began operation in 1984. The observed positions of the major planets are compared with JPL DE200 and DE403. The agreement with DE403 is good in general, but unresolved discrepancies of the order 0″.1 are found in Jupiter and Saturn. The run-off between the observations and DE200 which was fitted to observations before 1980 emphasize the need to continue optical observations of the outer planets.


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