Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Jul 2005
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005a%26a...437.1093n&link_type=abstract
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 437, Issue 3, July III 2005, pp.1093-1108
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
9
Comets: General, Oort Cloud, Planets And Satellites: Formation
Scientific paper
We study the outer Oort cloud (OC) by numerical integration of 126 600 orbits of hypothetical comets representing this cometary reservoir. We determine the distribution of the semi-major axis a for 4.6 loa log (a) loa 5, and estimate its population and total mass, as well as some other characteristics. The distribution of the semi-major axis is found initially by assuming a constant log (a) distribution and then identifying the theoretically predicted log (a) distribution of new comets with their observed log (a) distribution. The semi-major axis of outer-OC comets ranges from log (a) ≈ 4.35 to typically log (a) ≈ 5 on the decadic-logarithm scale. The relative distribution of this element can, however, be roughly determined only for log (a) goa 4.55: dN ∝ a-s da, where 0.6 loa s loa 0.8. The perihelion distribution of new comets with log (a) loa 4.55 is not constant in the zone of visibility (ZV) and a bias due to the observational selection cannot be eliminated. The lower limit of the outer OC population is 1× 1011 to 2× 1011. The currently available cometary data do not allow us to give a more exact lower estimate or an average estimate of the population. The OC has also been depleted by the combined Galactic-tide-planetary (GTP) perturbation with a local maximum rate at log (a) ≈ 4.5. The ratio of these comets that are lost from the outer OC and of new comets that enter into the ZV in the same time frame is ≈ 2.5. The distributions of the angular elements of new comets at their previous perihelion passage are used to evaluate the correctness of our model of the outer OC. Specifically, we calculated the root of mean squares between the corresponding theoretical and observed distributions of ω, Ω, and cos (i) resulting in 2{-}5% unexplained residua.
Jakubík Marián
Neslusan Luboš
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