Exploring the Boundaries of the Cold Classical Population

Details Exploring the Boundaries of the Cold Classical Population Exploring the Boundaries of the Cold Classical Population

Mar 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008sptz.prop50540g&link_type=abstract

Spitzer Proposal ID #50540

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Scientific paper

Objects in the Cold Classical Kuiper belt exhibit distinctive physical characteristics from other members of the trans-neptunian swarm. These include higher albedos, more homogeneously red colors, smaller sizes, and higher rates of binarity. Spitzer is the premier facility for determining albedos of these distant objects, since it can detect more than one thermal wavelength, enabling otherwise crippling model uncertainties to be overcome. We propose to use Spitzer to study objects in dynamical regions near the Cold Classical belt to see if they too have high albedos, consistent with possible kinship with the Cold Classical population. Possible physical affiliations between these different dynamical classes could provide valuable constraints on dynamical models of the evolution of the outer Solar System. We request observations of five strategically selected targets. Two are part of the Inner Classical group, objects in otherwise Classical type orbits except that they are closer to the Sun than the 3:2 mean motion resonance with Neptune. Two are among the least excited occupants of the 2:1 mean motion resonance and one is among the least excited occupants of the 3:2 resonance. As Neptune migrated outward, these resonances could have transported objects outward and deposited them into the Cold Classical region. If so, we would expect their least excited members to share physical characteristics with the Cold Classical objects.

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