The albedo-color diversity of transneptunian objects
Abstract
We analyze albedo data obtained using the Herschel Space Observatory that reveal the existence of two distinct types of surface among midsized transneptunian objects. A color-albedo diagram shows two large clusters of objects, one redder and higher albedo and another darker and more neutrally colored. Crucially, all objects in our sample located in dynamically stable orbits within the classical Kuiper belt region and beyond are confined to the bright-red group, implying a compositional link. Those objects are believed to have formed further from the Sun than the dark-neutral bodies. This color-albedo separation is evidence for a compositional discontinuity in the young solar system.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1406.1420,
title = {The albedo-color diversity of transneptunian objects},
author = {Pedro Lacerda and Sonia Fornasier and Emmanuel Lellouch and Csaba Kiss and Esa Vilenius and Pablo Santos-Sanz and Miriam Rengel and Thomas Mueller and John Stansberry and Rene Duffard and Audrey Delsanti and Aurelie Guilbert-Lepoutre},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1406.1420},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
16 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, published in ApJL (12 August 2014), The Astrophysical Journal (2014), vol. 793, L2