DISCOVERY of A NEW RETROGRADE TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECT: HINT of A COMMON ORBITAL PLANE for LOW SEMIMAJOR AXIS, HIGH-INCLINATION TNOs and CENTAURS

Ying Tung Chen; H. W. Lin; Wing Huen Ip; Wen Ping Chen; Hsing Wen Lin; Matthew J. Holman; Matthew J. Payne; Wesley C. Fraser; Pedro Lacerda; I. P. Wing-Huen; Rolf Peter Kudritzki; Robert Jedicke; Richard J. Wainscoat; John L. Tonry; Eugene A. Magnier; Christopher Waters; Nick Kaiser; Shiang Yu Wang; Matthew Lehner

doi:10.3847/2041-8205/827/2/L24

DISCOVERY of A NEW RETROGRADE TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECT: HINT of A COMMON ORBITAL PLANE for LOW SEMIMAJOR AXIS, HIGH-INCLINATION TNOs and CENTAURS

Ying Tung Chen, H. W. Lin, Wing Huen Ip, Wen Ping Chen, Hsing Wen Lin, Matthew J. Holman, Matthew J. Payne, Wesley C. Fraser, Pedro Lacerda, I. P. Wing-Huen, Rolf Peter Kudritzki, Robert Jedicke, Richard J. Wainscoat, John L. Tonry, Eugene A. Magnier, Christopher Waters, Nick Kaiser, Shiang Yu Wang, Matthew Lehner

Graduate Institute of Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

45 Scopus citations

Abstract

Although the majority of Centaurs are thought to have originated in the scattered disk, with the high-inclination members coming from the Oort cloud, the origin of the high-inclination component of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) remains uncertain. We report the discovery of a retrograde TNO, which we nickname "Niku," detected by the Pan-STARRS 1 Outer Solar System Survey. Our numerical integrations show that the orbital dynamics of Niku are very similar to that of 2008 KV₄₂ (Drac), with a half-life of ∼500 Myr. Comparing similar high-inclination TNOs and Centaurs (q > 10 au, a < 100 au, and i > 60°), we find that these objects exhibit a surprising clustering of ascending node, and occupy a common orbital plane. This orbital configuration has high statistical significance: 3.8-σ. An unknown mechanism is required to explain the observed clustering. This discovery may provide a pathway to investigating a possible reservoir of high-inclination objects.

Original language	English
Article number	L24
Journal	Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume	827
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8205/827/2/L24
State	Published - 20 Aug 2016

Keywords

Kuiper belt: general
Oort Cloud
surveys

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Chen, Y. T., Lin, H. W., Ip, W. H., Chen, W. P., Lin, H. W., Holman, M. J., Payne, M. J., Fraser, W. C., Lacerda, P., Wing-Huen, I. P., Kudritzki, R. P., Jedicke, R., Wainscoat, R. J., Tonry, J. L., Magnier, E. A., Waters, C., Kaiser, N., Wang, S. Y., & Lehner, M. (2016). DISCOVERY of A NEW RETROGRADE TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECT: HINT of A COMMON ORBITAL PLANE for LOW SEMIMAJOR AXIS, HIGH-INCLINATION TNOs and CENTAURS. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 827(2), Article L24. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8205/827/2/L24

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title = "DISCOVERY of A NEW RETROGRADE TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECT: HINT of A COMMON ORBITAL PLANE for LOW SEMIMAJOR AXIS, HIGH-INCLINATION TNOs and CENTAURS",

abstract = "Although the majority of Centaurs are thought to have originated in the scattered disk, with the high-inclination members coming from the Oort cloud, the origin of the high-inclination component of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) remains uncertain. We report the discovery of a retrograde TNO, which we nickname {"}Niku,{"} detected by the Pan-STARRS 1 Outer Solar System Survey. Our numerical integrations show that the orbital dynamics of Niku are very similar to that of 2008 KV42 (Drac), with a half-life of ∼500 Myr. Comparing similar high-inclination TNOs and Centaurs (q > 10 au, a < 100 au, and i > 60°), we find that these objects exhibit a surprising clustering of ascending node, and occupy a common orbital plane. This orbital configuration has high statistical significance: 3.8-σ. An unknown mechanism is required to explain the observed clustering. This discovery may provide a pathway to investigating a possible reservoir of high-inclination objects.",

keywords = "Kuiper belt: general, Oort Cloud, surveys",

author = "Chen, {Ying Tung} and Lin, {H. W.} and Ip, {Wing Huen} and Chen, {Wen Ping} and Lin, {Hsing Wen} and Holman, {Matthew J.} and Payne, {Matthew J.} and Fraser, {Wesley C.} and Pedro Lacerda and Wing-Huen, {I. P.} and Kudritzki, {Rolf Peter} and Robert Jedicke and Wainscoat, {Richard J.} and Tonry, {John L.} and Magnier, {Eugene A.} and Christopher Waters and Nick Kaiser and Wang, {Shiang Yu} and Matthew Lehner",

year = "2016",

month = aug,

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doi = "10.3847/2041-8205/827/2/L24",

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volume = "827",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal Letters",

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Chen, YT, Lin, HW, Ip, WH, Chen, WP, Lin, HW, Holman, MJ, Payne, MJ, Fraser, WC, Lacerda, P, Wing-Huen, IP, Kudritzki, RP, Jedicke, R, Wainscoat, RJ, Tonry, JL, Magnier, EA, Waters, C, Kaiser, N, Wang, SY & Lehner, M 2016, 'DISCOVERY of A NEW RETROGRADE TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECT: HINT of A COMMON ORBITAL PLANE for LOW SEMIMAJOR AXIS, HIGH-INCLINATION TNOs and CENTAURS', Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 827, no. 2, L24. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8205/827/2/L24

TY - JOUR

T1 - DISCOVERY of A NEW RETROGRADE TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECT

T2 - HINT of A COMMON ORBITAL PLANE for LOW SEMIMAJOR AXIS, HIGH-INCLINATION TNOs and CENTAURS

AU - Chen, Ying Tung

AU - Lin, H. W.

AU - Ip, Wing Huen

AU - Chen, Wen Ping

AU - Lin, Hsing Wen

AU - Holman, Matthew J.

AU - Payne, Matthew J.

AU - Fraser, Wesley C.

AU - Lacerda, Pedro

AU - Wing-Huen, I. P.

AU - Kudritzki, Rolf Peter

AU - Jedicke, Robert

AU - Wainscoat, Richard J.

AU - Tonry, John L.

AU - Magnier, Eugene A.

AU - Waters, Christopher

AU - Kaiser, Nick

AU - Wang, Shiang Yu

AU - Lehner, Matthew

PY - 2016/8/20

Y1 - 2016/8/20

N2 - Although the majority of Centaurs are thought to have originated in the scattered disk, with the high-inclination members coming from the Oort cloud, the origin of the high-inclination component of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) remains uncertain. We report the discovery of a retrograde TNO, which we nickname "Niku," detected by the Pan-STARRS 1 Outer Solar System Survey. Our numerical integrations show that the orbital dynamics of Niku are very similar to that of 2008 KV42 (Drac), with a half-life of ∼500 Myr. Comparing similar high-inclination TNOs and Centaurs (q > 10 au, a < 100 au, and i > 60°), we find that these objects exhibit a surprising clustering of ascending node, and occupy a common orbital plane. This orbital configuration has high statistical significance: 3.8-σ. An unknown mechanism is required to explain the observed clustering. This discovery may provide a pathway to investigating a possible reservoir of high-inclination objects.

AB - Although the majority of Centaurs are thought to have originated in the scattered disk, with the high-inclination members coming from the Oort cloud, the origin of the high-inclination component of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) remains uncertain. We report the discovery of a retrograde TNO, which we nickname "Niku," detected by the Pan-STARRS 1 Outer Solar System Survey. Our numerical integrations show that the orbital dynamics of Niku are very similar to that of 2008 KV42 (Drac), with a half-life of ∼500 Myr. Comparing similar high-inclination TNOs and Centaurs (q > 10 au, a < 100 au, and i > 60°), we find that these objects exhibit a surprising clustering of ascending node, and occupy a common orbital plane. This orbital configuration has high statistical significance: 3.8-σ. An unknown mechanism is required to explain the observed clustering. This discovery may provide a pathway to investigating a possible reservoir of high-inclination objects.

KW - Kuiper belt: general

KW - Oort Cloud

KW - surveys

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84984674746&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3847/2041-8205/827/2/L24

DO - 10.3847/2041-8205/827/2/L24

M3 - 期刊論文

AN - SCOPUS:84984674746

SN - 2041-8205

VL - 827

JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters

JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters

IS - 2

M1 - L24

ER -

DISCOVERY of A NEW RETROGRADE TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECT: HINT of A COMMON ORBITAL PLANE for LOW SEMIMAJOR AXIS, HIGH-INCLINATION TNOs and CENTAURS

Abstract

Keywords

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