Related papers: The Complex History of Trojan Asteroids
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…
Trans-Neptunian objects (TNO) represent the leftovers of the formation of the Solar System. Their physical properties provide constraints to the models of formation and evolution of the various dynamical classes of objects in the outer…
Most meteorites are fragments from recent collisions experienced in the asteroid belt. In such a hyper-velocity collision, the smaller collision partner is destroyed, whereas a crater on the asteroid is formed or it is entirely disrupted,…
The dynamics of artificial asteroids on the Trojan-like orbits around Neptune is investigated in this paper. We describe the dependence of the orbital stability on the initial semimajor axis a and inclination i by constructing a dynamical…
The Cybele and Hilda dynamical groups delimit the outer edge of the asteroid belt. Their compositional distribution is a key element to constrain evolutionary models of the Solar System. In this paper, we present a compositional analysis of…
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…
The rotational distribution of asteroids as a function of their size is used {as a diagnostic of} their physical properties and evolution. Recent photometric surveys from the Gaia mission, allowing observation of asteroids with long spin…
The under-abundance of asteroids on orbits with small perihelion distances suggests that thermally-driven disruption may be an important process in the removal of rocky bodies in the Solar System. Here we report our study of how the debris…
Chiang et al. 2006, hereafter C06 have recently proposed that the observed structure of the Kuiper belt could be the result of a dynamical instability of a system of ~5 primordial ice giant planets in the outer Solar System. According to…
Massive cores of the giant planets are thought to have formed in a gas disk by accretion of pebble-size particles whose accretional cross-section is enhanced by aerodynamic gas drag [1][2]. A commonly held view is that the terrestrial…
Mars was second to Jupiter in being recognized as the host of a population of Trojan minor bodies. Since 1990, five asteroids - 5261 Eureka, (101429) 1998 VF31, (121514) 1999 UJ7, 2001 DH47 and (311999) 2007 NS2 - have been identified as…
About 20% of stars in the solar vicinity are in the Hercules stream, a bundle of stars that move together with a velocity distinct from the Sun. Its origin is still uncertain. Here, we explore the possibility that Hercules is made of…
The Jupiter Trojans are a large group of asteroids that are co-orbiting with Jupiter near its L4 and L5 Lagrange points. The study of Jupiter Trojans is crucial for testing different models of planet formation that are directly related to…
Our understanding of planet formation has been rapidly evolving in recent years. The classical planet formation theory, developed when the only known planetary system was our own Solar System, has been revised to account for the observed…
Every population of small bodies in the Solar system contains a sizable fraction of multiple systems. Among these, the Jupiter Trojans have the lowest number of known binary systems and the least characterized. We aim at characterizing the…
We know that giant planets played a crucial role in the making of our Solar System. The discovery of giant planets orbiting other stars is a formidable opportunity to learn more about these objects, what is their composition, how various…
With the discovery of Kuiper Belt binaries that have wide separations and roughly equal masses new theories were proposed to explain their formation. Two formation scenarios were suggested by Goldreich and collaborators: In the first,…
Determining the binary fraction for a population of asteroids, particularly as a function of separation between the two components, helps describe the dynamical environment at the time the binaries formed, which in turn offers constraints…
The widely-separated, near-equal mass binaries hosted by the cold Classical Kuiper Belt are delicately bound and subject to disruption by many perturbing processes. We use analytical arguments and numerical simulations to determine their…
We employ an efficient numerical approach to simulate a stationary distribution of test objects, which results from their gravitational scattering on the four giant planets, with accounting for effects of mean motion resonances. Using the…