Related papers: The Colors of Extreme Outer Solar System Objects
The cold classical Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) possess a high, $\gtrsim30\%$ binary fraction. Widely separated and dynamically fragile, these binary systems have been useful in tracing the origins of KBOs. A new class of binaries was…
We have discovered a concentration of extremely red objects (EROs; R-K>6) in the field of the z=2.69 quasar QSO 1213-0017 (UM 485), which is significantly overabundant compared to the field ERO surface density. The optical/near-IR colors of…
We present new measurements of the optical colors of Kuiper Belt Objects, principally from the Keck 10-m telescope. The measurements confirm the existence of a wide spread in the B-V, V-R and R-I color indices (Luu and Jewitt 1996).…
We have measured broadband optical BVR photometry of 24 Classical and Scattered Kuiper belt objects (KBOs), approximately doubling the published sample of colors for these classes of objects. We find a statistically significant correlation…
The g'r'i' colors of seven likely and potential contact binaries in the Kuiper belt were acquired with the Magellan-Baade telescope and combined with colors from the literature to understand contact binary surfaces. The likely and potential…
We present photometric observations and numerical simulations of 2016 SD$_{106}$, a low inclination ($i=4.8^{\circ}$) extreme trans-Neptunian Object with a large semi-major axis ($a=350$ au) and perihelion ($q= 42.6$ au). This object…
We propose a chemical and dynamical process to explain the surface colors of the Kuiper belt. In our hypothesis, the initial bulk compositions of the bodies themselves can be quite diverse -- as is seen in comets -- but the early surface…
Recent analyses have shown that distant orbits within the scattered disk population of the Kuiper belt exhibit an unexpected clustering in their respective arguments of perihelion. While several hypotheses have been put forward to explain…
We present photometry and spectra of the large Kuiper belt object 2007 OR10. The data show significant near-infrared absorption features due to water ice. While most objects in the Kuiper belt with water ice absorption this prominent have…
The detached object Sedna is likely at the inner edge of the Oort cloud, more precisely the inner Oort cloud (IOC). Until recently it was the sole member of this population. The recent discovery of the detached object 2012 VP113 has…
Here we present additional photometry of targets observed as part of the Hubble Wide Field Camera 3 Test of Surfaces in the Outer Solar System. 12 targets were re-observed with the Wide Field Camera 3 in optical and NIR wavebands designed…
We describe the discovery of a bright, young Kuiper belt-like debris disk around HD 115600, a $\sim$ 1.4--1.5 M$_\mathrm{\odot}$, $\sim$ 15 Myr old member of the Sco-Cen OB Association. Our H-band coronagraphy/integral field spectroscopy…
Observations show that 100-km-class Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) can be divided in (at least) two color groups, hereafter red (R, g-i<1.2) and very red (VR, g-i>1.2), reflecting a difference in their surface composition. This is thought to…
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…
Deep surface photometry of disk galaxies at optical and near-IR wavelengths have revealed faint halos with colours much too red to be reconciled with the resolved stellar populations detected in the halos of the Milky Way or M31.…
Colors and binarity provide important constraints on the Kuiper belt formation. The cold classical objects at radial distance r=42-47 au from the Sun are predominantly very red (spectral slope s>17%) and often exist as equal-size binaries…
We present the first-ever measurements of the surface colors and rotational properties of a recently discovered distant object in an unusual orbit 2016 ND21. In 2017, this object was close to its perihelion, which allowed us to observe it…
Red (S > 10%/0.1 micron) spectral slopes are common among Centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) in the outer solar system. Interior to and co-orbital with Jupiter, the red (S approx. = 10%/0.1 micron) slopes of D-type main-belt and…
Extremely Red Objects (EROs) offer a window to the universe at z~1 analogous to that provided by the Lyman Break galaxies at z=3. Passive evolution and hierarchical galaxy formation models make very distinct predictions for the K (2.2um)…
The Kuiper Belt (KB) region of the solar system, stretching from 30 to at least 50 AU, contains Pluto-Charon, some ~105 Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) larger than 100 km in diameter, and myriad smaller bodies produced by collisions among KBOs…