Probing Planetesimals in the Solar System: Ice and Organics in Kuiper Belt Binaries

Details Probing Planetesimals in the Solar System: Ice and Organics in Kuiper Belt Binaries Probing Planetesimals in the Solar System: Ice and Organics in Kuiper Belt Binaries

Apr 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009sptz.prop60184n&link_type=abstract

Spitzer Proposal ID #60184

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Scientific paper

We are proposing to use IRAC ch1 to obtain 3.6 um albedos for a sample of 9 Kuiper Belt binaries. Binaries offer the crucial advantage of linking spectrophotometric properties to physical properties including mass, albedo, density, and internal structure. We have selected targets with known orbits and with the most available ancillary data to get the maximum leverage for the new IRAC data. Our targets are nearly equally divided between the physically and dynamically distinct Cold population and assorted representatives of the dynamically Hot populations of the Kuiper Belt. We have also limited our sample to the less-processed, more-pristine 100-km-class objects that make up the vast majority of the Kuiper Belt that have been largely left out of earlier studies. These objects may be relatively unaltered since the end of planetary accretion in the protoplanetary disk and thus anearly direct link to the earliest epoch of the solar system and, by extension, to other planetary systems. The 3.6 um band of IRAC ch1 is a sensitive detector of both water ice and solid organics in Kuiper Belt objects.The surfaces of 100-km-class objects are likely a minimally processed mixture of silicates, water ice, and solid organics. Because the 3-4 um window contains strong absorptions, both from water ice and organics, a single IRAC photometric point, when combined with optical and near-IR data, can help constrain the range of possible compositions and microphysical textures for these objects.

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