Recent observational surveys of the outer solar system provide evidence that Neptune's distant
In the present-day Kuiper Belt, the number of compositional classes and the orbital distributions of these classes hold important cosmogonic implications for the solar system. The Colours of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (Col-OSSOS) recently showed that the observed color distribution of small (
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10461967
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.3847
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Planetary Science Journal
- Volume:
- 4
- Issue:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 2632-3338
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: Article No. 160
- Size(s):
- ["Article No. 160"]
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract n :1 mean motion resonances may harbor relatively large reservoirs of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). In particular, the discovery of two securely classified 9:1 resonators, 2015 KE172and 2007 TC434, by the Outer Solar System Origins Survey is consistent with a population of order 104such objects in the 9:1 resonance with absolute magnitudeH r < 8.66. This work investigates whether the long-term stability of such populations in Neptune’sn :1 resonances can be used to constrain the existence of distant 5–10M ⊕planets orbiting at hundreds of au. The existence of such a planet has been proposed to explain a reported clustering in the orbits of highly eccentric “extreme” trans-Neptunian objects (or eTNOs), although this hypothesis remains controversial. We engage in a focused computational case study of the 9:1 resonance, generating synthetic populations and integrating them for 1 Gyr in the presence of 81 different test planets with various masses, perihelion distances, eccentricities, and inclinations. While none of the tested planets are incompatible with the existence of 9:1 resonators, our integrations shed light on the character of the interaction between such planets and nearbyn :1 resonances, and we use this knowledge to construct a simple heuristic method for determining whether or not a given planet could destabilize a given resonant population. We apply this method to the currently estimated properties of Planet 9, and find that a large primordial population in the 15:1 resonance (or beyond), if discovered in the future, could potentially constrain the existence of this planet. -
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Abstract Centaurs have orbits between Jupiter and Neptune and are thought to originate from the trans-Neptunian region. Observations of surface properties of Centaurs and comparison with those of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) would provide constraints on their origin and evolution. We analyzed imaging data of nine known Centaurs observed by the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) installed on the Subaru Telescope with the g- and i-band filters. Using the data available in the public HSC data archive, as well as those obtained by the HSC Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) by the end of 2017 June, we obtained the g − i colors of the nine Centaurs. We compared them with those of known TNOs in the HSC-SSP data obtained by T. Terai et al. (2018, PASJ, 70, S40). We found that the color distribution of the nine Centaurs is similar to that of those TNOs with high orbital inclinations, but distinct from those TNOs with low orbital inclinations. We also examined correlations between the colors of these Centaurs and their orbital elements and absolute magnitude. The Centaurs’ colors show a moderate positive correlation with semi-major axis, while no significant correlations between the color and other orbital elements or absolute magnitude were found for these Centaurs. On the other hand, recent studies on Centaurs with larger samples show interesting correlations between their color and absolute magnitude or orbital inclination. We discuss how our data fit in these previous studies, and also discuss implications of these results for their origin and evolution.
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Abstract The detached trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are those with semimajor axes beyond the 2:1 resonance with Neptune that are neither resonant nor scattering. Using the detached sample from the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS) telescopic survey, we produce the first studies of their orbital distribution based on matching the orbits and numbers of the known TNOs after accounting for survey biases. We show that the detached TNO perihelion ( q ) distribution cannot be uniform but is instead better matched by two uniform components with a break near q ≈ 40 au. We produce parametric two-component models that are not rejectable by the OSSOS data set and estimate that there are 36,000 − 9000 + 12 , 000 detached TNOs with absolute magnitudes H r < 8.66 ( D ≳ 100 km) and semimajor axes 48 au < a < 250 au (95% confidence limits). Although we believe that these heuristic two-parameter models yield a correct population estimate, we then use the same methods to show that the perihelion distribution of a detached disk created by a simulated rogue planet matches the q distribution even better, suggesting that the temporary presence of other planets in the early solar system is a promising model to create today’s large semimajor axis TNO population. This cosmogonic simulation results in a detached TNO population estimate of 48,000 − 12 , 000 + 15 , 000 . Because this illustrates how difficult-to-detect q > 50 au objects are likely present, we conclude that there are (5 ± 2) × 10 4 dynamically detached TNOs, roughly twice as many as in the entire trans-Neptunian hot main belt.more » « less
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