Bibcode
Trigo-Rodríguez, J. M.; García Melendo, E.; García-Hernández, D. A.; Davidsson, B.; Sánchez, A.; Rodríguez, D.
Referencia bibliográfica
European Planetary Science Congress 2008, Proceedings of the conference held 21-25 September, 2008 in Münster, Germany. Online at http://meetings.copernicus.org/epsc2008, p.811
Fecha de publicación:
9
2008
Número de citas
1
Número de citas referidas
1
Descripción
MOTIVATION FOR THIS MONITORING To better understand the origin, nature
and evolution of the Kuiper Belt Objects (hereafter KBOs) it is needed a
characterization of the physical properties of these primitive bodies.
We expect that these remote and pristine bodies are rich in ice and
other volatiles. They also probably played an important role in the
enrichment in volatiles of the solar system inner planets. In fact, the
dynamic patterns and the structure of the KB, populated by large
ice-rich bodies probably subjected to complex collisional histories are
opening new questions. They are for example suspicious of being the
source of Centaurs, and Jupiter Family Comets (JFCs) [1]. In fact, the
present day known Centaurs are ice-rich bodies that follow unstable
orbits crossing those of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. On the other hand,
modelling of JFCs evolution suggests that some are able to get
incorporated into the NEO population via a close encounter with Jupiter.
These presumably weak bodies are subjected during their inner solar
system stays to solar irradiation, collisions, and close approaches that
are probably disrupting them in short timescales [2, 3]. To perform a
continuous monitoring of Centaurs, and other unusual bodies is
interesting because they are little-studied bodies that are probably
representing a transition among the different populations [4, 5]. The
recent discovery of the activity of some Centaurs (like e.g. C/NEAT
2001T4, 174P/2000 EC98, P/2004 A1 (LONEOS), and 2004 PY42) suggests that
many of these bodies exhibit cometary activity [6, 7, 8]. As they are
located to moderately large heliocentric distances, the detection of
activity can provide interesting constrains on the sublimation
mechanisms that originated such activity. During the last 6 years we
have been monitoring one of the most famous Centaurs, comet
29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, that exhibits unusual changes in their coma
appearance and brightness [9]. Encouraged by our previous results of
Centaur 29P/ and 17P/Holmes [10], and knowing that many Centaurs are
bright enough for being followed by using medium-sized telescopes, we
are currently developing a continuous monitoring of several Centaurs.
Our group is also including in this follow-up some unusual objects that
seem to exhibit a cometary behaviour, but were initially catalogued as
asteroids belonging the NEO populations. These studies are clearly
complementary of our searches for dormant comets on the basis of the
meteoroid streams that they (or their progenitors) produced [11].