Centaurs tagged posts

A rapid reshaping of orbits resulting from a close encounter with Jupiter or Saturn can lead Centaurs to exhibit comet-like activity, according to a Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Eva Lilly paper.

Centaurs are small bodies similar to asteroids in size but to comets in composition that revolve around the sun in the outer solar system, mainly between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune.

“We have found some answers to the long-standing mystery of why some Centaurs became active like comets while the rest appear like regular quiet asteroids. Nobody knew why they behaved this way...

Researchers have discovered a new superhighway network to travel through the Solar System much faster than was previously possible. Such routes can drive comets and asteroids near Jupiter to Neptune’s distance in under a decade and to 100 astronomical units in less than a century. They could be used to send spacecraft to the far reaches of our planetary system relatively fast, and to monitor and understand near-Earth objects that might collide with our planet.

In their paper, published in the Nov...

Visualization was constructed from simulation of Chariklo’s double ring. Credit: Shugo Michikoshi, Eiichiro Kokubo, Hirotaka Nakayama, 4D2U Project, NAOJ

A team in Japan modeled the 2 rings around Chariklo, the smallest body in the Solar System known to have rings. This is the first time an entire ring system has been simulated using realistic sizes for the ring particles while also taking into account collisions and gravitational interactions between the particles. The team’s simulation revealed information about the size and density of the particles in the rings. By considering both the detailed structure and the global picture for the first time, the team found that Chariklo’s inner ring should be unstable without help...

Visualization of Chariklo and its rings ( left; ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser/Nick Risinger). Visualization of the rings as seen from Chariklo’s surface (right ESO). Credit: ESO/L. Calçada/Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)

A team of researchers has clarified the origin of the rings recently discovered around 2 minor planets known as centaurs, and their results suggest the existence of rings around other centaurs (minor planets that orbit between Jupiter and Neptune, their current or past orbits crossing those of the giant planets). It is estimated that there are around 44,000 centaurs with diameters >1 km.

Until recently it was thought that the 4 giants such as Saturn and Jupiter were the only ringed celestial bodies within our solar system...