Physics
Scientific paper
Feb 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011noao.prop...17g&link_type=abstract
NOAO Proposal ID #2011A-0017
Physics
Scientific paper
The planetesimals in the Kuiper belt are a mixed group of survivors originating at different places in the proto-planetary nebula around the young Sun. They show a remarkable diversity of surface properties, but this heterogeneity remains to be understood in terms of formation in physically and chemically distinct nebular regions. Trans-neptunian binary and multiple systems can provide this link through measurement of their mutual orbits and masses, opening the door to a rich family of investigations that can probe bulk properties such as density and albedo, chemical composition, and internal structure. Binaries are a natural laboratory for a wealth of dynamical studies that can constrain conditions at the time of their formation as well as their subsequent evolution. But to realize their full potential to elucidate conditions in the proto-planetary nebula requires access to a large sample to tease apart the distinct influences of formation conditions and subsequent history. The natural time-dependence of this problem and the necessity of a large sample call for the investment of a survey program.
Grundy William M.
Noll Keith S.
Porter Simon B.
Roe Henry Garfitt
Trujillo Chadwick A.
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