Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 1998
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998dps....30.5526r&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #30, #55.P26; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 30, p.1452
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Ground-based astronomical observations of the Kuiper Belt is an emerging field of research that is providing important survey information for future spacecraft missions. Recently, we have made the unexpected, exciting, and so far mysterious discovery that the surface colors of Kuiper belt objects divide neatly into two distinct populations (NATURE 392, p. 49, 1998; and this meeting). Here, we report on a three year survey to study the sizes and shapes of Kuiper belt objects. We find that the smallest objects in our survey exhibit periodic brightness variations that are likely due to rotation of bodies with irregular shapes, while the largest bodies do not exhibit brightness variations and are therefore likely round. Such a pattern is seen in the asteroid belt and is the result of self gravity overcoming material strength in the interiors of large objects, and as a result large objects take on the spheroidal shape of hydrostatic equilibrium. This research supported by the NASA Origins of Solar Systems Program.
Romanishin William
Tegler Stephen C.
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