A search for outgassing from Kuiper Belt Objects

Details A search for outgassing from Kuiper Belt Objects A search for outgassing from Kuiper Belt Objects

Jul 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996hst..prop.6521f&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #6521

Physics

Hst Proposal Id #6521 Solar System

Scientific paper

In the past 3 years almost 30 small bodies lying on the inner edge of the proposed Kuiper-Belt have been discovered using ground-based facilities. Their observed magnitudes of V > 22.4 imply diameters of < 400 km. From observations of comae around distant objects {Chiron, P/Halley, P/Bowell} it is now known that comets may continue outgassing to at least 13-19 AU, probably driven by CO sublimation. Therefore it is possible and indeed likely that Kuiper-Belt Objects also possess active surfaces. The Planetary Camera will be used to image 4 bright Kuiper-Belt Objects in order to search for comae around these bodies, thereby providing constraints on the present rate of mass-loss from their surfaces. The observations proposed here would be able to detect a mass-loss rate of 100 g s^-1 from the surface. Due to their large distance, the HST is the only telescope with the required sensitivity and spatial resolution to carry out this investigation.

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