The Active Centaurs

Details The Active Centaurs The Active Centaurs

Sep 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.3704j&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #37.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.551

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Centaurs are Solar system bodies that are being strongly scattered by the giant planets, with dynamical lifetimes that are short compared to the age of the Solar system. They are probably recent escapees from the Kuiper belt. Here, we use new observations from the large telescopes on Mauna Kea to investigate the physical properties of those Centaurs which show evidence for comet-like activity over at least some portions of their orbits. We find that the observed activity is inconsistent with water ice sublimation as the driver. It is also inconsistent with supervolatile ices (such as CO) as the driver, although supervolatile species are clearly implicated in the observed activity. Instead, we find that the properties of the active Centaurs are consistent with gas release driven by the amorphous -> crystalline phase transition. By implication, the Kuiper belt precursors to the Centaurs must be amorphous. We contrast this inference with recent observations that unambiguously show crystalline water ice on the surfaces of several large Kuiper belt objects.

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