Origin and evolution of the unusual object 1996 PW

Details Origin and evolution of the unusual object 1996 PW Origin and evolution of the unusual object 1996 PW

Mar 1997

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997lpi....28.1529w&link_type=abstract

Conference Paper, 28th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, p. 529.

Physics

Comet Nuclei, Orbital Elements, Eccentric Orbits, Asteroids, Planetary Systems, Planetary Evolution, Albedo, Diameters, Monte Carlo Method, Halley'S Comet, Oort Cloud

Scientific paper

The unusual object 1996 PW was discovered August 9, 1996 by an automated search camera operating from Mt. Haleakala Observatory in Hawaii. Speculation has focused on whether the object is a dormant or extinct cometary nucleus, or an asteroid, and whether it is evolving into or out of the planetary system. We performed a series of dynamical simulations and calculations to test each of five different hypotheses. We assumed that 1996 PW had come from the Oort cloud, and estimated its dynamical age using a Monte Carlo simulation of planetary perturbations. Results for 10 exp 6 simulated objects yielded a sharply peaked dynamical age distribution with a maximum at only five returns, and a long tail. The median number of returns was 24, and 95 percent of the comets with orbits similar to 1996 PW had ages of 368 returns or less; 99 percent had made less than 750 returns.

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