Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003dps....35.4912j&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #35, #49.12; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 35, p.1017
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
It is widely believed that escaped objects from the Kuiper Belt are the source of both the Centaurs and the nuclei of the Jupiter Family Comets (JFCs). If the JFC nuclei are produced by collisional breakup of parent objects in the Kuiper Belt, then it is reasonable to expect that their shape distribution should be consistent with those of fragments produced in disintegrative laboratory experiments, or with the small main-belt asteroids (which are produced collisionally).
We test this idea using a sample of eleven well-observed cometary nuclei. Our main result is that the nuclei are, on average, much more elongated than either the collisionally produced small main-belt asteroids or the fragments created in laboratory impact experiments. Several interpretations of this systematic shape difference are possible (including the obvious one that the JFC nuclei are not, after all, produced collisionally in the Kuiper Belt). Our preferred explanation, however, is that the asphericities of the nuclei have been modified by one or more processes of mass loss. An implication of this interpretation is that the JFC nuclei in our sample are highly evolved, having lost a major part of their original mass. In turn, this implies that the angular momenta of the nuclei are also non-primordial: the JFC nuclei are highly physically evolved objects. We will discuss the evidence supporting these conclusions.
This work has been recently published in Astronomical Journal, 125, 3366-3377 (2003).
Fernandez Yanga
Jewitt David
Sheppard Scott S.
No associations
LandOfFree
From Kuiper Belt to Comet: The Shapes of the Nuclei 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 From Kuiper Belt to Comet: The Shapes of the Nuclei, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and From Kuiper Belt to Comet: The Shapes of the Nuclei will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1523506