English

Trans-Neptunian binaries (2018)

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2020-02-19 v1

Abstract

The discovery and characteristics of transneptunian binaries are reviewed. In the 20 years since their first discovery, a wealth of detail has emerged including the frequency of binaries in different populations, their relative sizes and separations, and colors. Taken globally, these properties give strong clues to the origin and evolution of the populations where these binaries are found. In the last ten years and increasing number of binary orbits have been determined which yields a new trove of information on their masses and densities as well as details of their orbits including inclination, eccentricity and the timing of mutual events. In 2018, the study of transneptunian binaries remains one of the most active areas of progress in understanding the Solar System beyond Neptune.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2002.04075,
  title  = {Trans-Neptunian binaries (2018)},
  author = {Keith S. Noll and William M. Grundy and David Nesvorny and Audrey Thirouin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2002.04075},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

22 pages, 9 figures, 1 table

R2 v1 2026-06-23T13:37:30.965Z