Evidence for a Collisional Mechanism Affecting Kuiper Belt Object Colors

Details Evidence for a Collisional Mechanism Affecting Kuiper Belt Object Colors Evidence for a Collisional Mechanism Affecting Kuiper Belt Object Colors

2002-06-08

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0206129v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Scientific paper

10.1086/342863

The Kuiper Belt (KB) region of the solar system, stretching from 30 to at least 50 AU, contains Pluto-Charon, some ~105 Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) larger than 100 km in diameter, and myriad smaller bodies produced by collisions among KBOs (Farinella, Davis, & Stern 2000). The most notable physical attribute of the KBOs discovered to date is their reflectance color diversity, ranging from gray (i.e., neutral) to very red (Tegler & Romanishin 2000). We report here evidence for a statistical correlation between the colors of KBOs and the mean random impact speed that these objects experience, lending evidence to suggestions some years ago by modelers (Jewitt & Luu 1996) that a competition between collisional resurfacing and radiation reddening may contribute to the color diversity of KBOs.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Evidence for a Collisional Mechanism Affecting Kuiper Belt Object Colors does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Evidence for a Collisional Mechanism Affecting Kuiper Belt Object Colors, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Evidence for a Collisional Mechanism Affecting Kuiper Belt Object Colors will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-356075