Tag Archives: Belt

Surprising Formation Found in the Kuiper Belt of Our Solar System

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Artwork depicting the Kuiper belt

Artist Perspectives on the Kuiper Belt

ESO/M.Kornmesser

The Kuiper Belt, the outer disk of icy rock in our solar system, has been found to exhibit more intricate structure than previously understood. In 2011, researchers unveiled a cluster of objects with similar orbits, referred to as the Kuiper Belt’s “kernel.” Recently, another group has identified an even more tightly groupedset of objects, termed the “inner kernel.”

The original kernel was identified through visual analysis of the orbits of 189 Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). This cluster is positioned roughly 44 astronomical units from the Sun, with one astronomical unit representing the distance between the Sun and Earth. Since the kernel’s discovery, no additional structures in the Kuiper Belt have been found.

That is, until Amir Shirazi and his team at Princeton University undertook the meticulous effort of refining orbital data from 1,650 KBOs. They utilized clustering and structure-searching algorithms to analyze this data. By training the algorithm to identify kernels, they discovered that whenever the algorithm pinpointed a kernel, it also uncovered another grouping, as noted by Siraj.

The newly identified star cluster has been dubbed the Inner Kernel, located at approximately 43 astronomical units from the Sun. Objects within this cluster exhibit highly circular orbits that align almost perfectly with the solar system’s disk.

“Such orbital stability indicates ancient, undisturbed structures. These formations can unravel mysteries regarding the solar system’s evolution, the movement of giant planets, and the environments it encountered during its early history,” Siraj explained.

Understanding how Neptune migrated from the inner solar system, where it is believed to have originated, to its present position could be particularly revealing, according to David Nesvorny, one of the original discoverers of the kernel at the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado. Nesvorny suggests that as Neptune migrates outward, the kernels, along with the KBOs forming the Inner Kernel, may have been temporarily stabilized through gravitational interactions with the giant planet, creating the aggregation seen today, before being released as Neptune continues its trajectory.

Chile’s Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which commenced operations this year, is anticipated to unveil even more KBOs, enhancing our understanding of both the core and the inner core, and potentially revealing undiscovered structures at the solar system’s periphery. “The deeper we delve into the structure of the Kuiper Belt, the more we uncover about the solar system’s history,” Siraj stated.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Lucy provides a comprehensive look at the main belt asteroid Donald Johansson

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NASA’s Lucy Mission is actively examining images obtained during its encounter with the carbonaceous asteroid Donald Johansson on April 20, 2025.

Donald Johanson is located on NASA’s Lucy spacecraft, approximately 2,700 km (1,700 miles) away, about 3.2 minutes before closest approach on April 20, 2025. The lighting conditions, which are primarily behind Lucy, significantly diminish the visibility of topographic features. Image credit: NASA/GODDARD/SWRI/JOHNS HOPKINS APL.

Donald Johansson resides in the inner region of the solar system’s major asteroid belt.

The asteroid was initially discovered on March 2, 1981, by American astronomer Sheltebus at the Siding Spring Observatory.

On April 20, 2025, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft executed a flyby near Donald Johansson, approaching within 960 km (600 miles) of its surface.

This encounter confirmed that the asteroid is an elongated contact binary, a structure that forms when two small celestial bodies collide.

Nonetheless, members of the Lucy team were taken aback by the unusual shape of the narrow neck connecting the two lobes.

A pair of stereo images combining the final full approach image (right) with slightly clipped images taken 72 seconds later. For a three-dimensional view of the asteroid’s structure, cross your eyes while focusing on the image. Image credits: NASA/GODDARD/SWRI/JOHNS HOPKINS APL/BRIAN MAY/CLAUDIA MANZONI.

“The newly released image was captured by the L’Lorri Imager on the spacecraft just minutes before the closest approach,” the researchers stated.

“This successful dress rehearsal assures the team that both the spacecraft and our crew are well-prepared for the main event: an encounter with a Jupiter Trojan asteroid.”

“Currently, the spacecraft is in a relatively quiet cruising phase as it journeys through the main asteroid belt.”

“Lucy is traveling at over 50,000 km/h (30,000 mph) away from the Sun.”

“We will continue to monitor the spacecraft as it heads toward the cooler, dimmer regions of the solar system.”

“Upon reaching the Trojan asteroid, the mission plans to conduct four encounters and observe at least six asteroids (including two satellites discovered by our team) over the course of 15 months.”

“The first encounter is scheduled with the asteroid Euribates in August 2027.”

Source: www.sci.news

Canada’s Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt Contains Fragments of Earth’s Oldest Crust, Research Reveals

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Geologists have found significant evidence indicating the preservation of Hadean Rocks, with an age of 4.16 billion years. The Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt offers a rare glimpse into the early Earth.

Canadian Nuvvuagittuq Green Stone Belt. Image credit: Jonathan O’Neill.

The earliest geological history of Earth remains largely unclear due to the scarcity of rocks and minerals from the Hadean period (over 4.3 billion years ago).

These ancient materials are often altered or destroyed as the planet’s crust undergoes continual recycling through various geological processes.

“One potential survivor of the Hadean era crustal rock is the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt,” stated Dr. Christian Saul, a senior author from the University of Ottawa and his colleagues.

“However, this perspective is contentious. Some researchers argue that the isotopic data backing these estimates might instead reflect later geological mixing rather than the true age of the layers.”

“If proven to be of Hadean origin, the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt would represent the oldest known preserved rock sequence on Earth.”

“This could yield critical insights into early geology and possible environments for the emergence of life.”

To refine the age of the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt, researchers concentrated on specific types of ancient rock intrusions known as metagabbro within the belt.

These intrusions intersect with ancient basaltic rocks, enabling the authors to utilize combined uranium-lead (U-Pb) dating to determine the minimum age limits of older layers, along with both short and long-lived samarium-neodymium (Sm-Nd) isotopic analysis.

Sm-Nd data yielded a consistent age of approximately 4.16 billion years, irrespective of the sample location or mineral composition.

The convergence of both isotope systems producing the same age in rocks with clear evidence of magma differentiation strongly supports their Hadean era crystallization.

This is in accordance with the Hadean Eon surviving within the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt.

“Studying these rocks allows us to trace back to the origins of our planet,” noted Dr. Jonathan O’Neill, a researcher at the University of Ottawa.

“This will enable us to gain a better understanding of how the first continent formed and help reconstruct the environment in which life emerged.”

Survey results published in the journal Science.

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C. Sole et al. 2025. Evidence of Hadean Mafic invasion in the Canadian Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt. Science 388 (6754): 1431-1435; doi: 10.1126/science.ads8461

Source: www.sci.news

Possible Main Belt Asteroid Asteroid 2024 YR4 Approaches Earth

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Astronomers using Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) A telescope in southern Gemini determined that the recently discovered nearby asteroid 2024 YR4 is one of the largest objects in recent history that could affect the moon, and is likely to originate from the major asteroid belt in the solar system. Their Survey results It will be published in Astrophysics Journal Letter.

This image from the 2024 YR4 was captured at Gemini Southeres Scope in Chile, half of the International Gemini Observatory run by Noallab. Image credits: International Gemini Observatory / Noirlab / NSF / Aura / M. Zamani.

The 2024 YR4 was discovered on December 27, 2024 by the Asteroid’s Ground Impact Last Altar System (ATLAS).

At the time, the asteroids had a close approach to Earth, passing a distance of just 0.017 Au (astronomy unit).

In January 2025, a month after its discovery, the 2024 YR4 exceeded the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAND) notification threshold, which was predicted on December 22, 2032, with a 1% chance of future impact on Earth.

The asteroid misses Earth during this encounter, but there is still a few percent remaining chance that it could hit the moon instead.

Now interested in characterizing famous asteroids, Eureka scientific Athleton Mar Bryce Borin A colleague used a Gemini Southeres scope to capture images of the 2024 YR4 at several different wavelengths.

A detailed analysis of the asteroid LightCurve allowed the team to determine its composition, orbital properties and 3D shape.

“Our observation with Gemini South provided an important part of the puzzle in determining the characteristics of the 2024 YR4,” Dr. Bolin said.

“Studying this asteroid could be an Earth impactor and was crucial in understanding the poorly understood Earth Cross population.”

Information collected from the light curve indicates that the 2024 YR4 is likely an S-type asteroid. In other words, it has a silicate-rich composition.

The reflective pattern suggests a diameter of approximately 30-65 m (98-213 feet), making it one of the largest objects in recent history and affects the moon.

It is unlikely, but if it affects the moon, the asteroid would provide an unprecedented opportunity to study the relationship between the size of the asteroid and the size of the resulting impact crater – an amount previously unknown.

Analysis also revealed that the asteroid’s rotation period is about once every 20 minutes, and is shaped like a rare hockey puck.

“The discovery was pretty unexpected as most asteroids are thought to be shaped like potatoes and toy tops rather than flat disks,” Dr. Bolin said.

Based on these orbital characteristics, astronomers determined that the 2024 YR4 is most likely to originate from the main asteroid belt, and that gravity interaction with Jupiter is likely to cause it to be disrupted by its current short-range orbit.

Its retrograde spin direction suggests that it may have moved inward from the central main belt region, adding to its understanding of how small asteroids evolve and reach orbits beyond Earth.

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Bryce T. Borin et al. 2025. Discovery and characterization of the Asteroid 2024 YR4, which crosses the Earth. apjlin press; arxiv: 2503.05694v2

Source: www.sci.news

Ohio Rust Belt Manufacturing Hub’s Dream Hindered by Delay and Uncertainty

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Intel recently moved a large metal structure 140 miles north to one of its semiconductor plants in Ohio, an operation detailed minute by minute here.

Local school bus schedules were carefully avoided during the transportation process. The cargo, measuring up to three-quarters of the length of a soccer field, was moved by a team of White Crane Truck operators.

Intel meticulously planned 37 deliveries over the past 11 months, culminating in the final Superroad landing at the Greenfield site last month. This marked a significant milestone for the company, which has invested heavily in the project since its announcement in September 2022.

However, Intel’s success in logistics is juxtaposed with its struggles as a company. Stock prices plummeted by 60% last year, and competition with companies like Nvidia has intensified with the Advanced 18A Artificial Intelligence Chip.

Rumors of potential dissolution and acquisition by rivals have further exacerbated Intel’s instability in the industry.

The delays in construction have also raised concerns among Ohio residents and community leaders, who were initially optimistic about the economic prospects brought by Intel’s manufacturing plants. The delays have pushed back the timeline for completion, causing frustration and uncertainty in the region.

Despite the setbacks, Intel secured funding under the Chips Act and remains committed to the project. However, the landscape of the semiconductor industry continues to evolve, with competitors like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) making significant investments.

The delays have also impacted local residents, some of whom have seen their properties affected by the construction. Concerns about the future of the project linger as Intel faces challenges in meeting critical deadlines and retaining funding.

The uncertainty surrounding Intel’s Ohio project highlights the complexities of navigating the rapidly changing semiconductor industry, where competition and market demands are reshaping the landscape.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Possible Hierarchical Triple System in Kuiper Belt Object Altjira

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Altozillaalso known as the 2001 UQ18, is located outside the solar system, 6 billion km (3.7 billion miles), or 44 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

This artist’s concept illustrates one of the possible scenarios for Kuiper Belt’s Altjira system. Image credits: NASA/ESA/Joseph Olmsted, Stsci.

“The Hubble images show two Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) about 7,600 km (4,700 miles) apart,” says Meianelsen, an astronomer at Brigham Young University and a colleague.

“However, Altjira’s repeated observations of the unique cooperative movement show that the inner object is indeed two bodies very close to each other.

“In small, far-flung objects, we need to discover that the separation between the two inner members of the system is part of the pixels of Hubble’s camera, using non-imaging methods.”

Astronomers gathered data from the Hubble and WM Keck Observatory for 17 years of observation baselines and looked at the trajectory of objects outside the Altjira system.

“Over time, the direction of the trajectory of the outer object changes, indicating that the inner object is either very elongated or in fact one of two separate objects,” says Dr. Dalin Lagoziczin of Brigham Young University.

“The triple system was perfect when putting Hubble data into different modeling scenarios,” Nelsen added.

“Other possibilities are that the inner object is a contact binary, so close that two separate bodies touch each other, or in fact, oddly flat as pancakes.”

Of the 40 identified binary objects in the Kuiper belt, of another system, Lempoit is known to be triple.

“Now, Altjira and Lempo are likely triples, so they are more likely to be looking for a population of three-body systems formed by the same situation, rather than a strange ball,” the astronomer said.

“But building that evidence requires time and repeated observation.”

The only Kuiper Belt objects explored in detail are PL Pun and the small object Arrocos that NASA’s New Horizons mission visited in 2015 and 2019, respectively.

New Horizons showed that Arrokoth is a contact binary. This means that in the case of KBO, two objects that have moved close to each other are currently touched or merged, often in the form of peanuts.

“Altozilla is the “cous” of Arokos, a member of the Kuiper Belt Objects of the same group,” Dr. Lagozin said.

“The Altjira is 10 times the Arocos, which is 200 km (124 miles) wide.”

“There is no mission that Altozilla plans to fly to get Arrocos level details, but there are other upcoming opportunities to further study the intriguing system,” Nelsen said.

“Altozilla is entering the season of the eclipse, where the outer body passes in front of the central body.”

“This will continue for the next 10 years and give scientists a great opportunity to learn more about it.”

Team’s paper It was published in Journal of Planetary Science.

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Maia A. Nelsen et al. 2025. Beyond the point square. IV. The Transneptinian object Altjira is a hierarchical triple, possibly discovered by non-kipler movements. planet. SCI. j 6, 53; doi:10.3847/psj/ad864d

Source: www.sci.news

Lucy Takes First Photo of Donald Johansson on Asteroid in Main Belt

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NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flies by the small asteroid Donald Johansson on April 20, 2025.

By flashing between images captured by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft on February 20th and 22nd, 2025, this animation shows Donald Johansson’s perceived movement against the background star as the spacecraft rapidly approaches the asteroid. Image credit: NASA/GODDARD/SWRI/JOHNS HOPKINS APL.

Donald Johansson It is a carbonaceous small intestine about 4 km (2.5 miles) in diameter.

First discovered by American astronomer Sheltebas at the Siding Spring Observatory on March 2, 1981, it orbited within the inner region of the main asteroid belt.

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will pass within 960 km (596 miles) of Donald Johansson on April 20th.

“This second asteroid encounter for Lucy will serve as a rehearsal for Jupiter’s Trojan asteroid outfit, the spacecraft’s main target,” a member of the Lucy team said in a statement.

“The spacecraft had already successfully observed the main belt asteroid Dinkinesh and its moon, Serum and Serum in November 2023.”

These new images have been captured Lucy Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’Lorri) Musical instrument.

This diagram shows NASA’s Lucy spacecraft passing through one of the Trojan asteroids near Jupiter. Image credit: Southwest Research Institute.

“But at a distance of 70 million km (45 million miles), Donald Johansson is still dim, but he stands out clearly in this area of ​​relatively faint stars in the constellations of Sextane,” the researchers said.

“The north of the sky is on the right side of the frame, with a 0.11-degree field of vision corresponding to 85,500 miles (140,000 km) of asteroidal distance.”

“Of the two images, another dimly lit asteroid can see the photobomb in the quadrant at the bottom right of the image.”

“However, as the headlights of approaching cars often remain relatively still, Donald Johansson’s obvious movement between these two images is much smaller than that of this intruder, who has fallen out of sight in the second image.”

According to scientists, Donald Johansson was named after anthropologist Donald Johansson, who discovered “Lucy.” Lucy Mission is named after the fossil.

“Lucy will continue to image Donald Johansson as part of his optical navigation program for the next two months. The optical navigation program will use the apparent position of the asteroid against the star’s background to ensure an accurate flyby,” they said.

Source: www.sci.news

Webb finds 138 main belt asteroids measuring 10 meters in diameter

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These asteroids are as small as 10 meters in diameter, making them the smallest asteroids ever observed in the major asteroid belt.

Artist Webb's illustration reveals clusters of main-belt decameter asteroids in infrared light. Image credit: Ella Mall/Julian de Wit.

The discovery of asteroids is essential to planetary defense efforts aimed at preventing collisions with Earth, such as the frequent megaton explosions caused by decameter impactors.

Large asteroids (=>100 km) remain in the main belt since their formation, while smaller asteroids are typically transported into the near-Earth object (NEO) population.

“We were able to detect NEOs very close to Earth, up to 10 meters in size,” said MIT researcher Dr. Artem Brudanov.

“We now have a way to discover these small asteroids when they are far away, so we can do more precise trajectory tracking, which is important for planetary defense.”

For this study, astronomers used data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to search for small asteroids.

Coincidentally, asteroids orbiting the main asteroid belt are much brighter in infrared wavelengths than in visible wavelengths, making them much easier to detect with Webb's infrared capabilities.

Researchers were able to discover eight known asteroids in the main asteroid belt.

Further investigation subsequently discovered 138 new asteroids around the belt, all within a few tens of meters in diameter, making them the smallest main-belt asteroids ever detected. .

They think several asteroids may be on their way to becoming NEOs, and one of them is probably the Trojans, or Jupiter-tracking asteroids.

“We thought we would only detect a few new objects, but we detected far more objects than we expected, especially small ones,” said Professor Julian de Witt of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“This is an indication that we are exploring a new population regime, where many more small objects are formed by a chain of collisions that very efficiently disintegrates asteroids smaller than about 100 meters. It will be done.”

“This is a completely new and unexplored territory that we are entering, thanks to modern technology,” said Dr. Brudanov.

“This is a great example of what we can do as a field when we look at data from a different perspective. Sometimes the benefits can be huge, and this is one of them.”

“The statistics of these very small main-belt asteroids are very important for modeling asteroid populations,” said Dr. Miroslav Broz, a researcher at Charles University in Prague.

In fact, these are debris ejected during the impact of larger, kilometer-sized asteroids, which are observable and often exhibit similar orbits around the sun, placing them in a “family” of asteroids. Can be grouped. ”

“We never expected that we could use state-of-the-art exoplanet observations to achieve such impactful solar system bonus science,” said Dr. Michael Guillon, a researcher at the University of Liège.

ESA researcher Dr Marco Micheli said: “Thanks to the web, we can now discover these small asteroids even when they are located far from Earth, allowing us to make more accurate orbit determinations. “This is extremely important for planetary defense.” Near Earth Object Coordination Center.

of the team paper Published in today's magazine nature.

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AY Brudanov others. JWST sighting of a 10-meter main belt asteroid and views on the meteorite source. naturepublished online on December 9, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08480-z

Source: www.sci.news

454 new asteroids discovered in the main asteroid belt by astronomers

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632 main-belt asteroids (178 known objects and 454 unknown objects) have been identified in archival images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Citizen scientists from around the world contributed to the discovery of this asteroid. Professional astronomers identified the asteroid using a combination of volunteer efforts and machine learning algorithms.

This Hubble image of barred spiral galaxy UGC 12158 looks like someone took it with a white marking pen. In reality, this is a combination of long exposures of a foreground asteroid moving within Hubble's field of view, adding light bombardment to observations of the galaxy. The galaxy was photographed several times. The dashed pattern is proof of this. Due to parallax, the asteroid appears as a curved trajectory. Hubble is not stationary, but orbits around the Earth, giving the illusion of a faint asteroid swimming along a curved trajectory. This unknown asteroid is located inside the solar system's asteroid belt, so it is 10 trillion times closer to Hubble than the background galaxy. Image credits: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Pablo García Martín, UAM / Joseph DePasquale, STScI / Alex Filippenko, University of California, Berkeley.

More than 4 billion years ago, the eight major planets around the sun formed by sweeping up debris from the vast disk of dust and gas surrounding the sun.

This is common in the birth process of planets, and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has for the first time optically observed a similar disk surrounding a newborn star, providing a glimpse into the solar system's formative years.

Four billion years later, debris still litters the planet's construction yards.

Most of this ancient space debris, or asteroids, lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter within the main asteroid belt.

“We are starting to learn more about the presence of a small number of main-belt asteroids,” said Dr. Pablo García Martín, an astronomer at the Autonomous University of Madrid.

“We were surprised to see so many candidate objects.”

“We've had some hints that this population exists, but we're now confirming it with a random asteroid population sample obtained using the entire Hubble archive.”

“This is important for gaining insight into models of the evolution of the solar system.”

Since Hubble orbits around the Earth at high speed, Hubble exposure allows us to follow its trail and capture a wandering asteroid.

When viewed from a telescope on Earth, the asteroid leaves streaks across the photo.

The asteroid appears as an unmistakable curved trajectory in the photo, making the Hubble exposure a “photobomb.”

Hubble observes the asteroid from different perspectives as it moves around Earth, but the asteroid also moves along its own orbit.

By knowing Hubble's position during observations and measuring the curvature of its stripes, scientists can determine the distance to the asteroid and estimate the shape of its orbit.

Most of the asteroids involved are in the main belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Their brightness is measured by Hubble's sensitive camera. Then, by comparing its brightness and distance, we can estimate its size.

The faintest asteroid found in the survey is approximately 40 million times less bright than the faintest star visible to the human eye.

“Because the asteroid's position changes over time, you can't find the asteroid's location just by entering the coordinates, because the asteroid may not be there at a different time,” Melin said.

“As astronomers, we don't have time to study images of every asteroid.”

“So we came up with the idea of ​​collaborating with more than 10,000 citizen science volunteers to browse the massive Hubble archive.”

of result appear in the diary astronomy and astrophysics.

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Pablo Garcia-Martin other. 2024. Hubble Asteroid Hunter III. Physical properties of newly discovered asteroids. A&A 683, A122; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202346771

Source: www.sci.news

New studies indicate Arrokoth and other Kuiper belt objects are made of untouched ice

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A pair of planetary scientists from Brown University and the SETI Institute have uncovered ancient ice deep within Arrokoth, the Kuiper Belt object (486958) that was the focus of a flyby by NASA’s New Horizons mission on January 1, 2019. They suggest that billions of years ago when the object first formed, there was a chance that ancient ice formed by comets could be present. By developing a new model to study comet evolution, the researchers found that this endurance is not unique to Arrokoth but may also be found in many other objects in the Kuiper belt.

This composite image of Ultima Thule was compiled from data acquired when NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew by the object on January 1, 2019. This image combines enhanced color data (close to what the human eye can see) with detailed high-resolution panchromatic data. picture. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute / Roman Tkachenko.

“Using a fairly simple mathematical model, we now show that primordial ice can be trapped deep inside these objects for long periods of time,” said Dr. Sam Birch, a planetary scientist at Brown University. “Most of our community thought this ice should have disappeared long ago, but now we think that may not be the case.”

Planetary scientists have long struggled to understand what happens to the ice on these space rocks over time. The new study challenges traditional thermal evolution models and suggests that highly volatile ice on these objects may persist longer than previously thought.

A model created by Birch and SETI Institute researcher Orkan Umurkhan explains this phenomenon, indicating that the ice on these objects can endure due to their extremely low temperatures. This new idea may provide insight into the explosive nature of icy objects in the Kuiper belt when they approach the sun.

Ultimately, this study presents a new perspective on comet evolution and activity, challenging existing theories and paving the way for a deeper understanding of these celestial bodies and their origins.

Birch and Dr. Umruhan are co-investigators of NASA’s Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return (CAESAR) mission, which aims to collect surface material from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and return it to Earth for analysis, potentially shedding further light on comet evolution and activity.

The study is published in the journal Icarus, and the results could have implications for future space exploration missions and our understanding of the cosmos.

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Samuel PD Birch and Orkan M. Umruhan. 2024. 486958 CO ice and gas remain inside the Arokos. Icarus 413: 116027; doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2024.116027

Source: www.sci.news