Surface Texture, Shape, Color and Size of the Dwarf Planet 2002 MS4 — a member of the hot component of the Classical Kuiper Belt
Abstract
The Kuiper belt object 2002 MS4 (a = 47.17; e = 0.14; i = 17.7) is a member of the 'hot component' of the classical Kuiper belt. Objects in this zone of the solar system are thought to have formed closer to the Sun, perhaps in the 15-20 au zone, and been transported to their current locations via dynamical interactions with the giant planets. This is in contrast to those Kuiper belt objects on lower-inclination nearly circular orbits that appear to have formed in-situ. The interior formation zone contained sufficient material to allow the formation of the dwarf planet population of the Kuiper belt prior to their transport into this zone, there are no 'large' Kuiper belt objects low-inclination population. We will report on the physical structure of 2002 MS4, based on the accumulation of observations from the Canada-France-Hawaíi Telescope, the New Horizons LORRI camera, VLT, occultation data collected on Anarchist Mountain BC and Penticton BC and coupled this with previously reported thermal measurements from Spizter and Herschel. Using this rich ensemble of observations we construct a portrait of the physical state of the Kuiper belt object 2002 MS4. Understanding the structure of the dwarf planets will provide a body of information that can constrain the processes of planetesimal formation in the inner zone of the outer solar system.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #235
- Pub Date:
- January 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AAS...23543809P