Bulletin of the American Physical Society
24th Annual Meeting of the APS Northwest Section
Thursday–Saturday, June 20–22, 2024; University of Washington - Bothell, Bothell, Washington
Session K01: Plenary III
9:00 AM–10:20 AM,
Saturday, June 22, 2024
University of Washington, Bothell
Room: North Creek Event Center
Chair: Ehab Marji, College of Western Idaho
Abstract: K01.00001 : Collisions in the Kuiper belt
9:00 AM–9:40 AM
Presenter:
Abedin Abedin
(Thompson Rivers University)
Authors:
Abedin Abedin
(Thompson Rivers University)
JJ Kavelaars
(Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics/National Research Council Canada)
Jean-Marc Petit
(Institut UTINAM, Université de Franche Comté, OSU Théta)
Brett Gladman
(University of British Columbia)
Sarah Greenstreet
(University of Washington)
Michele Bannister
(University of Canterbury)
Mike Alexandersen
(Minor Planet Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory)
Stephen Gwyn
(Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics, National Research Council Canada)
Kathryn Volk
(Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona)
Ying-Tung Chen
(Academia SINICA, Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics)
Collaboration:
The NASA New Horizons team
In 2015 the NASA New Horizons spacecraft made a close fly by the dwarf planet Pluto and then in 2019 it flew past the Cold Classical Kuiper Belt Object (CCKBO) - “Arrokoth”. The New Horizon’s mission was the first ever spacecraft to make a close approach and provide detailed images of the surface of a Kuiper belt object. Some of the most important features that New Horizons spacecraft observed, while flying only 3500 km above Arrokoth’s surface, were its bi-lobate shape1 (similar to SPCs) and the deficit of small craters on its surface2. The latter of these features might very well be indicative of a lack of catastrophic collisions in the trans-Neptunian region3, where most of the collisions between Kuiper belt objects are in a cratering regime rather than disruptive. In other words, the size-frequency distribution that we observe today, may be the same primordial distribution the objects have had since the formation of the Solar System, which may put constraints on the planet formation models – “planetesimal accretion” versus the “Streaming Instability” model4,5. Lastly, the bi-lobate shape of Arrokoth and some SPCs may be indicative of formation of TNOs in a low collision speed environment.
Bibliography:
1. Spencer, J. et al. (2021) - The geology and geophysics of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth; Science, Vol: 367
2. Singer, K. et al. (2019) - Impact craters on Pluto and Charon indicate a deficit of small Kuiper belt objects; Science, Vol: 363
3. Abedin, A. et al. (2022) - OSSOS XXVI: On the lack of Catastrophic Collisions in the Kuiper Belt; The Astronomical Journal, Vol:164;
4. Nesvorny, D. et al (2019) - Trans-Neptunian binaries as evidence for planetesimal formation by the streaming instability; Nature Astronomy; Vol: 3
5. Simon, J. et al. (2016) - Astrophysical Journal, Vol: 822
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