Stellar encounters as the origin of distant Solar System objects in highly eccentric orbits

The Kuiper belt extends from the orbit of Neptune at 30 au to an abrupt outer edge about 50 au from the Sun. Beyond the edge is a sparse population of objects with large orbital eccentricities. Neptune shapes the dynamics of most Kuiper belt objects, but the recently discovered planet 2003 VB12 (Sedna) has an eccentric orbit with a perihelion distance of 70 au, far beyond Neptune's gravitational influence. Although influences from passing stars could have created the Kuiper belt's outer edge and could have scattered objects into large, eccentric orbits, no model currently explains the properties of Sedna. Here we show that a passing star probably scattered Sedna from the Kuiper belt into its observed orbit. The likelihood that a planet at 60-80 au can be scattered into Sedna's orbit is about 50 per cent; this estimate depends critically on the geometry of the fly-by. Even more interesting is the approximately 10 per cent chance that Sedna was captured from the outer disk of the passing star. Most captures have very high inclination orbits; detection of such objects would confirm the presence of extrasolar planets in our own Solar System.     

Crystalline water ice on the Kuiper belt object (50000) Quaoar

The Kuiper belt is a disk-like structure consisting of solid bodies orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune. It is the source of the short-period comets and the likely repository of the Solar System's most primitive materials. Surface temperatures in the belt are low ( approximately 50 K), suggesting that ices trapped at formation should have been preserved over the age of the Solar System. Unfortunately, most Kuiper belt objects are too faint for meaningful compositional study, even with the largest available telescopes. Water ice has been reported in a handful of objects, but most appear spectrally featureless. Here we report near-infrared observations of the large Kuiper belt object (50000) Quaoar, which reveal the presence of crystalline water ice and ammonia hydrate. Crystallinity indicates that the ice has been heated to at least 110 K. Both ammonia hydrate and crystalline water ice should be destroyed by energetic particle irradiation on a timescale of about 10(7) yr. We conclude that Quaoar has been recently resurfaced, either by impact exposure of previously buried (shielded) ices or by cryovolcanic outgassing, or by a combination of these processes.     

Rotational breakup as the origin of small binary asteroids

Asteroids with satellites are observed throughout the Solar System, from subkilometre near-Earth asteroid pairs to systems of large and distant bodies in the Kuiper belt. The smallest and closest systems are found among the near-Earth and small inner main-belt asteroids, which typically have rapidly rotating primaries and close secondaries on circular orbits. About 15 per cent of near-Earth and main-belt asteroids with diameters under 10 km have satellites. The mechanism that forms such similar binaries in these two dynamically different populations was hitherto unclear. Here we show that these binaries are created by the slow spinup of a 'rubble pile' asteroid by means of the thermal YORP (Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack) effect. We find that mass shed from the equator of a critically spinning body accretes into a satellite if the material is collisionally dissipative and the primary maintains a low equatorial elongation. The satellite forms mostly from material originating near the primary's surface and enters into a close, low-eccentricity orbit. The properties of binaries produced by our model match those currently observed in the small near-Earth and main-belt asteroid populations, including 1999 KW(4) (refs 3, 4).     

A late Miocene dust shower from the break-up of an asteroid in the main belt

Throughout the history of the Solar System, Earth has been bombarded by interplanetary dust particles (IDPs), which are asteroid and comet fragments of diameter approximately 1-1,000 microm. The IDP flux is believed to be in quasi-steady state: particles created by episodic main belt collisions or cometary fragmentation replace those removed by comminution, dynamical ejection, and planetary or solar impact. Because IDPs are rich in 3He, seafloor sediment 3He concentrations provide a unique means of probing the major events that have affected the IDP flux and its source bodies over geological timescales. Here we report that collisional disruption of the >150-km-diameter asteroid that created the Veritas family 8.3 +/- 0.5 Myr ago also produced a transient increase in the flux of interplanetary dust-derived 3He. The increase began at 8.2 +/- 0.1 Myr ago, reached a maximum of approximately 4 times pre-event levels, and dissipated over approximately 1.5 Myr. The terrestrial IDP accretion rate was overwhelmingly dominated by Veritas family fragments during the late Miocene. No other event of this magnitude over the past approximately 10(8) yr has been deduced from main belt asteroid orbits. One remarkably similar event is present in the 3He record 35 Myr ago, but its origin by comet shower or asteroid collision remains uncertain.     

The formation of the Kuiper belt by the outward transport of bodies during Neptune's migration

The 'dynamically cold Kuiper belt' consists of objects on low-inclination orbits between approximately 40 and approximately 50 au from the Sun. It currently contains material totalling less than a tenth the mass of the Earth, which is surprisingly low because, according to accretion models, the objects would not have grown to their present size unless the cold Kuiper belt originally contained tens of Earth masses of solids. Although several mechanisms have been proposed to produce the observed mass depletion, they all have significant limitations. Here we show that the objects currently observed in the dynamically cold Kuiper belt were most probably formed within approximately 35 au and were subsequently pushed outward by Neptune's 1:2 mean motion resonance during its final phase of migration. Combining our mechanism with previous work, we conclude that the entire Kuiper belt formed closer to the Sun and was transported outward during the final stages of planet formation.     

冥王星的奇特轨道性质

被称为第九大行星的冥王星具有与其它八大行星不同的高倾角、高偏心率的共振锁定轨道，而在新发现的外太阳系的Kuiper带中许多天体却具有与之相似的轨道性质，因此冥王星更像是一颗Kuiper带天体而不是大行星．     

Saturn's moon Phoebe as a captured body from the outer Solar System

The orbital properties of Phoebe, one of Saturn's irregular moons, suggest that it was captured by the ringed planet's gravitational field rather than formed in situ. Phoebe's generally dark surface shows evidence of water ice, but otherwise the surface most closely resembles that of C-type asteroids and small outer Solar System bodies such as Chiron and Pholus that are thought to have originated in the Kuiper belt. A close fly-by of Phoebe by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft on 11 June 2004 (19 days before the spacecraft entered orbit around Saturn) provided an opportunity to test the hypothesis that this moon did not form in situ during Saturn's formation, but is instead a product of the larger protoplanetary disk or 'solar nebula'. Here we derive the rock-to-ice ratio of Phoebe using its density combined with newly measured oxygen and carbon abundances in the solar photosphere. Phoebe's composition is close to that derived for other solar nebula bodies such as Triton and Pluto, but is very different from that of the regular satellites of Saturn, supporting Phoebe's origin as a captured body from the outer Solar System.     

The trans-neptunian object UB313 is larger than Pluto

The most distant known object in the Solar System, 2003 UB313 (97 au from the Sun), was recently discovered near its aphelion. Its high eccentricity and inclination to the ecliptic plane, along with its perihelion near the orbit of Neptune, identify it as a member of the 'scattered disk'. This disk of bodies probably originates in the Kuiper belt objects, which orbit near the ecliptic plane in circular orbits between 30 and 50 au, and may include Pluto as a member. The optical brightness of 2003 UB313, if adjusted to Pluto's distance, is greater than that of Pluto, which suggested that it might be larger than Pluto. The actual size, however, could not be determined from the optical measurements because the surface reflectivity (albedo) was unknown. Here we report observations of the thermal emission of 2003 UB313 at a wavelength of 1.2 mm, which in combination with the measured optical brightness leads to a diameter of 3,000 +/- 300 +/- 100 km. Here the first error reflects measurement uncertainties, while the second derives from the unknown object orientation. This makes 2003 UB313 the largest known trans-neptunian object, even larger than Pluto (2,300 km). The albedo is 0.60 +/- 0.10 +/- 0.05, which is strikingly similar to that of Pluto, suggesting that the methane seen in the optical spectrum causes a highly reflective icy surface.     

Disruption of fragmented parent bodies as the origin of asteroid families

Asteroid families are groups of small bodies that share certain orbit and spectral properties. More than 20 families have now been identified, each believed to have resulted from the collisional break-up of a large parent body in a regime where gravity controls the outcome of the collision more than the material strength of the rock. The size and velocity distributions of the family members provide important constraints for testing our understanding of the break-up process, but erosion and dynamical diffusion of the orbits over time can erase the original signature of the collision. The recently identified young Karin family provides a unique opportunity to study a collisional outcome almost unaffected by orbit evolution. Here we report numerical simulations modelling classes of collisions that reproduce the main characteristics of the Karin family. The sensitivity of the outcome of the collision to the internal structure of the parent body allows us to show that the family must have originated from the break-up of a pre-fragmented parent body, and that all large family members formed by the gravitational reaccumulation of smaller bodies. We argue that most of the identified asteroid families are likely to have had a similar history.     

The recent breakup of an asteroid in the main-belt region

The present population of asteroids in the main belt is largely the result of many past collisions. Ideally, the asteroid fragments resulting from each impact event could help us understand the large-scale collisions that shaped the planets during early epochs. Most known asteroid fragment families, however, are very old and have therefore undergone significant collisional and dynamical evolution since their formation. This evolution has masked the properties of the original collisions. Here we report the discovery of a family of asteroids that formed in a disruption event only 5.8 +/- 0.2 million years ago, and which has subsequently undergone little dynamical and collisional evolution. We identified 39 fragments, two of which are large and comparable in size (diameters of approximately 19 and approximately 14 km), with the remainder exhibiting a continuum of sizes in the range 2-7 km. The low measured ejection velocities suggest that gravitational re-accumulation after a collision may be a common feature of asteroid evolution. Moreover, these data can be used to check numerical models of larger-scale collisions.     

Discovery of two new satellites of Pluto

Pluto's first known satellite, Charon, was discovered in 1978. It has a diameter (approximately 1,200 km) about half that of Pluto, which makes it larger, relative to its primary, than any other moon in the Solar System. Previous searches for other satellites around Pluto have been unsuccessful, but they were not sensitive to objects less, similar150 km in diameter and there are no fundamental reasons why Pluto should not have more satellites. Here we report the discovery of two additional moons around Pluto, provisionally designated S/2005 P 1 (hereafter P1) and S/2005 P 2 (hereafter P2), which makes Pluto the first Kuiper belt object known to have multiple satellites. These new satellites are much smaller than Charon, with estimates of P1's diameter ranging from 60 km to 165 km, depending on the surface reflectivity; P2 is about 20 per cent smaller than P1. Although definitive orbits cannot be derived, both new satellites appear to be moving in circular orbits in the same orbital plane as Charon, with orbital periods of approximately 38 days (P1) and approximately 25 days (P2).     

海王星特洛伊小天体动力学

特洛伊小天体与行星同享一个轨道,并与太阳、行星在空间构成等边三角形,最早为人们所知的特洛伊小天体是位于木星轨道上并位于木星前(后)方60°的两群小天体.而海王星特洛伊小天体则是近20年来太阳系内最重要的发现之一.观测证据表明海王星特洛伊小天体的总数量和总质量远超过木星特洛伊小天体和主带小行星,是太阳系内仅次于柯伊伯带的第二大小天体集群.它们一方面具有独特的轨道特征,另一方面又联系着海王星轨道内、外的空间,自然而然地成为检验太阳系起源与演化的试金石.我们简要介绍了对海王星特洛伊小天体的观测结果、对它们的轨道动力学和起源研究的进展.     

The formation of Kuiper-belt binaries through exchange reactions

Recent observations have revealed that an unexpectedly high fraction--a few per cent--of the trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) that inhabit the Kuiper belt are binaries. The components have roughly equal masses, with very eccentric orbits that are wider than a hundred times the radius of the primary. Standard theories of binary asteroid formation tend to produce close binaries with circular orbits, so two models have been proposed to explain the unique characteristics of the TNOs. Both models, however, require extreme assumptions regarding the size distribution of the TNOs. Here we report a mechanism that is capable of producing binary TNOs with the observed properties during the early stages of their formation and growth. The only required assumption is that the TNOs were initially formed through gravitational instabilities in the protoplanetary dust disk. The basis of the mechanism is an exchange reaction in which a binary whose primary component is much more massive than the secondary interacts with a third body, whose mass is comparable to that of the primary. The low-mass secondary component is ejected and replaced by the third body in a wide but eccentric orbit.     

Kuiper带天体轨道的观测特性

对当前已观测到的具有可靠轨道根数、位于30～50AU的Kuiper主带和50AU以外Kuiper散射带的轨道半长径、轨道偏心率和倾角的分布特性分别进行了统计作图分析．结果显示：轨道半长径在40～50AU之间的KBOs的数量呈近似正态分布,KBOs在共振区出现聚集,并且共振区天体普遍具有较大的轨道偏心率;经典KBOs的轨道倾角的分布范围比共振KBOs的还大;散射KBOs的近日点距离大多在30～45AU之间．     

对Kuiper带中3:2共振天体的轨道根数的分析研究

在太阳系最外层的Kuiper带中，有许多天体处于海王星3：2平运动共振中．对这些天体的主要轨道根数的观测数据分析发现，与其它Kuiper带天体比较，它们普遍具有高偏心率、高倾角和相对稳定的轨道．     

Thallium isotopic evidence for ferromanganese sediments in the mantle source of Hawaiian basalts

Ocean island basalts are generally thought to be the surface expression of mantle plumes, but the nature of the components in the source regions of such mantle plumes is a subject of long-standing debate. The lavas erupted at Hawaii have attracted particular attention, as it has been proposed that coupled 186Os and 187Os anomalies reflect interaction with the Earth's metallic core. It has recently been suggested, however, that such variations could also result from addition of oceanic ferromanganese sediments to the mantle source of these lavas. Here we show that Hawaiian picrites with osmium isotope anomalies also exhibit pronounced thallium isotope variations, which are coupled with caesium/thallium ratios that extend to values much lower than commonly observed for mantle-derived rocks. This correlation cannot be created by admixing of core material, and is best explained by the addition of ferromanganese sediments into the Hawaii mantle source region. However, the lack of correlation between thallium and osmium isotopes and the high thallium/osmium ratios of ferromanganese sediments preclude a sedimentary origin for the osmium isotope anomalies, and leaves core-mantle interaction as a viable explanation for the osmium isotope variations of the Hawaiian picrites.     

Natural examples of olivine lattice preferred orientation patterns with a flow-normal a-axis maximum

Tectonic plate motion is thought to cause solid-state plastic flow within the underlying upper mantle and accordingly lead to the development of a lattice preferred orientation of the constituent olivine crystals. The mechanical anisotropy that results from such preferred orientation typically produces a direction of maximum seismic wave velocity parallel to the plate motion direction. This has been explained by the existence of an olivine preferred orientation with an 'a-axis' maximum parallel to the induced mantle flow direction. In subduction zones, however, the olivine a axes have been inferred to be arranged roughly perpendicular to plate motion, which has usually been ascribed to localized complex mantle flow patterns. Recent experimental work suggests an alternative explanation: under conditions of high water activity, a 'B-type' olivine preferred orientation may form, with the a-axis maximum perpendicular to the flow direction. Natural examples of such B-type preferred orientation are, however, almost entirely unknown. Here we document widespread B-type olivine preferred orientation patterns from a subduction-type metamorphic belt in southwest Japan and show that these patterns developed in the presence of water. Our discovery implies that mantle flow above subduction zones may be much simpler than has generally been thought.     

A giant impact origin for Pluto's small moons and satellite multiplicity in the Kuiper belt

The two newly discovered satellites of Pluto (P1 and P2) have masses that are small compared to both Pluto and Charon-that is, between 5 x 10(-4) and 1 x 10(-5) of Pluto's mass, and between 5 x 10(-3) and 1 x 10(-4) of Charon's mass. This discovery, combined with the constraints on the absence of more distant satellites of Pluto, reveal that Pluto and its moons comprise an unusual, highly compact, quadruple system. These facts naturally raise the question of how this puzzling satellite system came to be. Here we show that P1 and P2's proximity to Pluto and Charon, the fact that P1 and P2 are on near-circular orbits in the same plane as Pluto's large satellite Charon, along with their apparent locations in or near high-order mean-motion resonances, all probably result from their being constructed from collisional ejecta that originated from the Pluto-Charon formation event. We also argue that dust-ice rings of variable optical depths form sporadically in the Pluto system, and that rich satellite systems may be found--perhaps frequently--around other large Kuiper belt objects.     

The Earth's missing lead may not be in the core

Relative to the CI chondrite class of meteorites (widely thought to be the 'building blocks' of the terrestrial planets), the Earth is depleted in volatile elements. For most elements this depletion is thought to be a solar nebular signature, as chondrites show depletions qualitatively similar to that of the Earth. On the other hand, as lead is a volatile element, some Pb may also have been lost after accretion. The unique (206)Pb/(204)Pb and (207)Pb/(204)Pb ratios of the Earth's mantle suggest that some lead was lost about 50 to 130 Myr after Solar System formation. This has commonly been explained by lead lost via the segregation of a sulphide melt to the Earth's core, which assumes that lead has an affinity towards sulphide. Some models, however, have reconciled the Earth's lead deficit with volatilization. Whichever model is preferred, the broad coincidence of U-Pb model ages with the age of the Moon suggests that lead loss may be related to the Moon-forming impact. Here we report partitioning experiments in metal-sulphide-silicate systems. We show that lead is neither siderophile nor chalcophile enough to explain the high U/Pb ratio of the Earth's mantle as being a result of lead pumping to the core. The Earth may have accreted from initially volatile-depleted material, some lead may have been lost to degassing following the Moon-forming giant impact, or a hidden reservoir exists in the deep mantle with lead isotope compositions complementary to upper-mantle values; it is unlikely though that the missing lead resides in the core.     

冰表面结构及其物理特性的新探索

冰是自然界中最广泛存在的物质之一,对人类生存乃至整个自然界变化都有重要的影响,因此对其本质的研究一直吸引着科学家们的广泛兴趣．尽管上百年来科学界对冰的各种形态及其相变规律做了大量研究,但对冰的表面结构及其相应物理化学性质的了解仍然非常有限．近几年来,我们在冰表面的结构及其物理化学特性的研究中取得了一些新的进展．首次提出了可以描述冰表面氢原子（悬挂OH键）结构有序度的序参量,并发现冰表面结构在融化前比体内更加有序的现象．进一步的研究显示冰表面序参量跟冰表面分子空位的形成和小分子的吸附有着密切的联系．序参量大也就是悬挂OH键排布越不均匀的冰表面的分子越容易形成空位,而分子吸附也越容易发生．