Related papers: The Main Belt Comets and Ice in the Solar System
Cometary activity in main-belt asteroids probes the ice content of these objects and provides clues to the history of volatiles in the inner solar system. We search the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) survey to derive upper limits on the…
Radar and spacecraft observations show the permanently shadowed regions around Mercury's North Pole to contain water ice and complex organic material. One possible source of this material are impacts by interplanetary dust particles (IDPs),…
The recent years have witnessed a carnival of discoveries in the Outer Solar System. Here we provide evidence from numerical simulations of orbital stability to suggest the possible existence of two long lived belts of primordial…
The close environment of the central supermassive black hole of our Galaxy is studied thoroughly since decades in order to shed light on the behavior of the central regions of galaxies in general and of active galaxies in particular. The…
We announce the discovery of a main-belt comet (MBC), 2010 LH15 (alternately designated 2010 TJ175). MBCs are a rare type of main-belt asteroid that display comet-like activity, such as tails or comae, caused by sublimation. Consequently,…
This article relates two topics of central importance in modern astronomy - the discovery some fifteen years ago of the first planets around other stars (exoplanets), and the centuries-old problem of understanding the origin of our own…
The Oort cloud, a collection of icy bodies orbiting the sun at roughly $10^{3}$ AU to $10^{5}$ AU, is believed to be the source of the long-period comets observed in the inner solar system. Although its existence was predicted nearly 70…
We review the general theoretical concepts and observational constraints on the distribution and evolution of water vapor and ice in protoplanetary disks, with a focus on the Solar System. Water is expected to freeze out at distances…
In an effort to understand the origin of the Main Belt Comets (MBCs) 7968 Elst-Pizzaro, 118401, and P/2005 U1, the dynamics of these three icy asteroids and a large number of hypothetical MBCs were studied. Results of extensive numerical…
Carbonaceous asteroids represent the principal source of water in the inner Solar System and might correspond to the main contributors for the delivery of water to Earth. Hydrogen isotopes in water-bearing primitive meteorites, e.g.…
Aims.We aim to locate the origin of a stealth coronal mass ejection (CME) detected in situ by the MAG instrument on board Solar Orbiter, and make connections between the CME observed at the Sun, and the interplanetary CME (ICME) measured in…
In studies of the oldest solar system bodies - comets and asteroids - it is their fragments - meteoroids - that provide the most accessible planetary material for detailed laboratory analysis in the form of dust particles or meteorites.…
The terrestrial planets and the asteroids dominant in the inner asteroid belt are water poor. However, in the protoplanetary disk the temperature should have decreased below water condensation level well before the disk was photoevaporated.…
In its 16 years of scientific measurements, the Spitzer Space Telescope performed a number of ground-breaking infrared measurements of Solar System objects. In this second of two papers, we describe results from Spitzer observations of…
Solicited by the Small Bodies Assessment Group, we recommend a balanced program of telescopic observation (ground-based, airborne, and space-based), laboratory studies, theoretical research and missions to Main Belt Asteroids utilizing the…
The NASA Dawn spacecraft took off from Cape Canaveral in September 2007 atop a Delta II rocket starting an ambitious journey to Vesta and Ceres, the two most massive worlds in the largest reservoir of asteroids in the Solar System, the Main…
The study of comets affords a unique window into the birth, infancy, and subsequent history of the solar system. There is strong evidence that comets incorporated pristine interstellar material as well as processed nebular matter, providing…
We analyze 760475 observations of 333026 main-belt objects obtained by the Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) survey telescope between 2012 May 20 and 2013 November 9, a period during which PS1 discovered two main-belt comets, P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS) and…
Ice naturally forms in the disordered or ``amorphous'' state when accreted from vapor at temperatures and pressures found in the interstellar medium and in the frigid, low density outer regions of the Sun's protoplanetary disk. It is…
The 'Ocean Worlds' of our Solar System are covered with ice, hence the water is not directly accessible. Using melting probe technology is one of the promising technological approaches to reach those scientifically interesting water…