Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1774044 | Icarus | 2010 | 5 Pages |
Abstract
Two populations of minor bodies in the outer Solar System remain particularly elusive: Scattered Disk Objects and Sedna-like objects. These populations are important dynamical tracers, and understanding the details of their spatial- and size-distributions will enhance our understanding of the formation and on-going evolution of the Solar System. By using newly-derived limits on the maximum heliocentric distances that recent pencil-beam surveys for trans-neptunian objects were sensitive to, we determine new upper limits on the total numbers of distant SDOs and Sedna-like objects. While generally consistent with populations estimated from wide-area surveys, we show that for magnitude-distribution slopes of α â³Â 0.7-1.0, these pencil-beam surveys provide stronger upper limits than current estimates in literature.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Space and Planetary Science
Authors
Alex H. Parker, J.J. Kavelaars,