scholarly journals The Humps of KBO’s Size Distribution

2001 ◽  
Vol 183 ◽  
pp. 261-262
Author(s):  
Cheng-Pin Chen ◽  
Ing-Guey Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Observational Data ◽  
Power Law ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Outer Solar System ◽  
Kuiper Belt Objects ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Theoretical Simulations ◽  
Single Power

AbstractWe study the possible humps or deviation from the single-power law for the size distribution of the Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). Both the current observational data and theoretical simulations show evidence of such humps. We conclude that this is an imprint of the depletion of the outer Solar System in the Kuiper Belt region.

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>

The contribution of Centaur-emitted dust to the interplanetary dust distribution

2019 ◽  
Vol 490 (2) ◽  
pp. 2421-2429 ◽  
Author(s):  
A R Poppe
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Mass Loss ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Interplanetary Dust ◽  
Outer Solar System ◽  
Dust Grains ◽  
Kuiper Belt Objects ◽  
Dust Density ◽  
Outer Planets ◽  
Current Mass

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.

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.

scholarly journals Organic matter in the Solar System: From colors to spectral bands

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S251) ◽  
pp. 285-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale P. Cruikshank
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Solar System ◽  
Kuiper Belt ◽  
Spectral Energy Distribution ◽  
Spectral Energy ◽  
Outer Solar System ◽  
Spectral Bands ◽  
Organic Complexes ◽  
Planetary Satellites ◽  
Spectral Models

AbstractThe reflected spectral energy distribution of low-albedo, red-colored, airless bodies in the outer Solar System (planetary satellites, Centaur objects, Kuiper Belt objects, bare comet nuclei) can be modeled with spectral models that incorporate the optical properties of refractory complex organic materials synthesized in the laboratory and called tholins. These materials are strongly colored and impart their color properties to the models. The colors of the bodies cannot be matched with plausible minerals, ices, or metals. Iapetus, a satellite of Saturn, is one such red-colored body that is well matched with tholin-rich models. Detection of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons on Iapetus by the Cassini spacecraft, and the presence of these hydrocarbons in the tholins, is taken as evidence for the widespread presence of solid organic complexes aromatic and aliphatic units on many bodies in the outer Solar System. These organic complexes may be compositionally similar to the insoluble organic matter in some classes of the carbonaceous meteorites, and thus may ultimately derive from the organic matter in the interstellar medium.

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
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