The surface and thermal history of Orcus

Details The surface and thermal history of Orcus The surface and thermal history of Orcus

Oct 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011epsc.conf..999d&link_type=abstract

EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2011, held 2-7 October 2011 in Nantes, France. http://meetings.copernicus.org/epsc-dps2011, p.999

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Scientific paper

Orcus is a 1000km diameter intermediate-size Plutino with a water ice-rich surface that should theoretically be too small and too hot to have retained its pristine volatile content (CO, CH4, N2) on its surface [5]. However, repeated spectroscopic observations show an intriguing shallow absorption feature around 2.2 microns that is difficult to interpret. The presence of methane and ammonia cannot be completely ruled out although their presence is difficult to explain. Another intriguing property is the unambiguous presence of water ice in its crystalline state [1,2,3], evidenced by an absorption feature at 1.65 microns in various H-band spectra. In this work, we review the spectral and surface properties currently known for Orcus and will try to put them in perspective. We further study and discuss the thermal history of the interior of this object, using a new 3D thermal evolution code [4] to describe how the crystalline water ice can be produced and being eventually supplied to the surface in the recent past.

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