scholarly journals Serpentinization in the thermal evolution of icy Kuiper belt objects in the early Solar system

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anikó Farkas-Takacs ◽  
Csaba Kiss ◽  
Sándor Góbi ◽  
Ákos Keresztúri
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Thermal Evolution ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Early Solar System ◽  
Kuiper Belt Objects

Thermal Evolution and Differentiation of Edgeworth–Kuiper Belt Objects

2001 ◽  
Vol 121 (5) ◽  
pp. 2792-2799 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. De Sanctis ◽  
M. T. Capria ◽  
A. Coradini
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Evolution ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Kuiper Belt Objects

scholarly journals The solar nebula origin of (486958) Arrokoth, a primordial contact binary in the Kuiper Belt

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 367 (6481) ◽  
pp. eaay6620 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. B. McKinnon ◽  
D. C. Richardson ◽  
J. C. Marohnic ◽  
J. T. Keane ◽  
W. M. Grundy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Solid Particles ◽  
Early Solar System ◽  
Low Velocity ◽  
Kuiper Belt Object ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Contact Binary ◽  
Collapsing Cloud ◽  
Gas Drag

The New Horizons spacecraft’s encounter with the cold classical Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth (provisional designation 2014 MU69) revealed a contact-binary planetesimal. We investigated how Arrokoth formed and found that it is the product of a gentle, low-speed merger in the early Solar System. Its two lenticular lobes suggest low-velocity accumulation of numerous smaller planetesimals within a gravitationally collapsing cloud of solid particles. The geometric alignment of the lobes indicates that they were a co-orbiting binary that experienced angular momentum loss and subsequent merger, possibly because of dynamical friction and collisions within the cloud or later gas drag. Arrokoth’s contact-binary shape was preserved by the benign dynamical and collisional environment of the cold classical Kuiper Belt and therefore informs the accretion processes that operated in the early Solar System.

scholarly journals How many satellites have been discovered in the Solar System after Galileo?

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (S269) ◽  
pp. 250-253
Author(s):  
Zhanna Pozhalova ◽  
Dmitrij Lupishko
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Main Belt ◽  
Trojan Asteroids ◽  
Kuiper Belt Objects ◽  
Multiple Systems ◽  
Natural Satellites ◽  
Near Earth Asteroids

AbstractBy the beginning of 2010 the total number of natural satellites and multiple systems in the Solar System was equal to 350, including: 168 satellites of large planets, 119 multiple asteroids (including main-belt and near-Earth asteroids, Mars-crossers and Jupiter Trojan asteroids) and 63 multiple transneptunian and Kuiper-belt objects. Meanwhile, we cannot count precisely how many moons in total have been discovered to date due to the deficiency of accepted definitions.

Low temperature spectroscopy and irradiation effects on Solar System ices – Kuiper belt objects as a case study

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (35) ◽  
pp. 15747
Author(s):  
Ralf I. Kaiser ◽  
Weijun Zheng ◽  
Yoshihiro Osamura ◽  
Agnes H. H. Chang
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Low Temperature ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Irradiation Effects ◽  
Kuiper Belt Objects

scholarly journals The Dark Red Spot on KBO Haumea

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (S263) ◽  
pp. 192-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Lacerda
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Bulk Density ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Rotation Period ◽  
Kuiper Belt Objects ◽  
Kuiper Belt Object ◽  
Average Surface ◽  
Surface Features ◽  
Ice Surface ◽  
Rotational Deformation

AbstractKuiper belt object 136108 Haumea is one of the most fascinating bodies in our solar system. Approximately 2000 × 1600 × 1000 km in size, it is one of the largest Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) and an unusually elongated one for its size. The shape of Haumea is the result of rotational deformation due to its extremely short 3.9-hour rotation period. Unlike other 1000 km-scale KBOs which are coated in methane ice the surface of Haumea is covered in almost pure H2O-ice. The bulk density of Haumea, estimated around 2.6 g cm−3, suggests a more rocky interior composition, different from the H2O-ice surface. Recently, Haumea has become the second KBO after Pluto to show observable signs of surface features. A region darker and redder than the average surface of Haumea has been identified, the composition and origin of which remain unknown. I discuss this recent finding and what it may tell us about Haumea.

scholarly journals Effects of Multiple Planetary Encounters on Kuiper Belt Objects

2002 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 243-244
Author(s):  
Ştefan Berinde
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Diffusion Process ◽  
Statistical Approach ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Giant Planets ◽  
Outer Solar System ◽  
Kuiper Belt Objects ◽  
Easy Task ◽  
Close Encounters ◽  
Long Time

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.

A re-assessment of the Kuiper belt size distribution for sub-kilometer objects

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Morbidelli ◽  
David Nesvorny ◽  
William Bottke ◽  
Simone Marchi
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Production Function ◽  
Power Law ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Spatial Density ◽  
Early Solar System ◽  
Size Frequency Distribution ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
The Impact

<p>In this work we combine several constraints provided by the crater records on Arrokoth and the worlds of the Pluto system to compute the size-frequency distribution (SFD) of the crater production function for craters with diameter D≤ 10km. For this purpose, we use a Kuiper belt objects (KBO) population model calibrated on telescopic surveys, that describes also the evolution of the KBO population during the early Solar System. We further calibrate this model using the crater record on Pluto, Charon and Nix.  Using this model, we compute the impact probability of bodies with diameter d>2km on Arrokoth, integrated over the age of the Solar System, that we compare with the corresponding impact probability on Charon. Our result, together with the observed density of sub-km craters on Arrokoth's imaged surface, constrains the power law slope of the crater production function. Other constraints come from the absence of craters with 1<D<7km on Arrokoth, the existence of a single crater with D>7km and the relationship between the spatial density of sub-km craters on Arrokoth and of D ~ 20km craters on Charon. Together, these data suggest the crater production function on these worlds has a cumulative power law slope of -1.5<q<-1.2. Converted into a projectile SFD slope, we find -1.2<q<sub>KBO</sub><-1.0. These values are close to the cumulative slope of main belt asteroids in the 0.2-2km range, a population in collisional equilibrium (Bottke et al. 2020). For KBOs, however, this slope appears to extend down to objects a few tens of meters in diameter, as inferred from sub-km craters on Arrokoth. From the measurement of the dust density in the Kuiper belt made by the New Horizons mission, we predict that the SFD of the KBOs become steep again below approximately 30m. All these considerations strongly indicate that the size distribution of the KBO population is in collisional equilibrium.</p>

scholarly journals Impact craters on Pluto and Charon indicate a deficit of small Kuiper belt objects

Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 363 (6430) ◽  
pp. 955-959 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. N. Singer ◽  
W. B. McKinnon ◽  
B. Gladman ◽  
S. Greenstreet ◽  
E. B. Bierhaus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Impact Craters ◽  
Early Solar System ◽  
Size Frequency Distribution ◽  
Kuiper Belt Objects ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Relative Paucity ◽  
Extensive Region ◽  
High Resolution Images

The flyby of Pluto and Charon by the New Horizons spacecraft provided high-resolution images of cratered surfaces embedded in the Kuiper belt, an extensive region of bodies orbiting beyond Neptune. Impact craters on Pluto and Charon were formed by collisions with other Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) with diameters from ~40 kilometers to ~300 meters, smaller than most KBOs observed directly by telescopes. We find a relative paucity of small craters ≲13 kilometers in diameter, which cannot be explained solely by geological resurfacing. This implies a deficit of small KBOs (≲1 to 2 kilometers in diameter). Some surfaces on Pluto and Charon are likely ≳4 billion years old, thus their crater records provide information on the size-frequency distribution of KBOs in the early Solar System.

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