Wise Views of the Outer Solar System: Comets, Centaurs, and SDOs

Details Wise Views of the Outer Solar System: Comets, Centaurs, and SDOs Wise Views of the Outer Solar System: Comets, Centaurs, and SDOs

Oct 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.0501b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #5.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.949

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Since its launch in December of 2009, the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has surveyed over 99% of the sky at 3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 microns. Over the course of the survey, hundreds of comets and tens of outer solar system objects have been imaged. A sampling of Centaurs (minor planets with orbits between Jupiter and Neptune) out to 14 AU have been observed in the thermal IR. Over 15 comets have been discovered by WISE, some with perihelia beyond 7 AU, and 3 additional objects found to have previously unknown cometary activity, including a known Near Earth Asteroid. Several targets of prior or future space mission encounters have also been observed. The WISE infrared observations, in combination with optical ground-based observations, yield size and albedo estimates of those cometary nuclei with low activity, as well as the Centaurs and SDOs. WISE observations of the more active bodies provide information regarding the particle size distribution of the dust. We will present our preliminary results concerning these populations, which place constraints on their composition, longevity, and origins.
Acknowledgements: This research was funded in part by the NASA (ROSES) NEOO program. WISE is a joint project between JPL and UCLA, with science data processing and archiving by Caltech's Infrared Processing and Analysis Center.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Wise Views of the Outer Solar System: Comets, Centaurs, and SDOs does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Wise Views of the Outer Solar System: Comets, Centaurs, and SDOs, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Wise Views of the Outer Solar System: Comets, Centaurs, and SDOs will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1121186