Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published September 10, 2008 | Published + Submitted
Journal Article Open

Detection of additional members of the 2003 EL61 collisional family via near-infrared spectroscopy

Abstract

We have acquired near-infrared spectra of Kuiper Belt objects 2003 UZ117, 2005 CB79, and 2004 SB60 with NIRC on the Keck I telescope. These objects are dynamically close to the core of the 2003 EL61 collisional family and were suggested to be potential fragments of this collision by Ragozzine and Brown. We find that the spectra of 2003 UZ117 and 2005 CB79 both show the characteristic strong water ice absorption features seen exclusively on 2003 EL61, its largest satellite, and the six other known collisional fragments. In contrast, we find that the near-infrared spectrum of 2004 SB60 is essentially featureless with a fraction of water ice of less than 5%. We discuss the implications of the discovery of these additional family members for understanding the formation and evolution of this collisional family in the outer solar system.

Additional Information

© 2008 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2008 July 13; accepted 2008 August 1; published 2008 August 22. We thank an anonymous referee for a helpful review. This research is supported by NASA Planetary Astronomy grant NNG05GI02G. The data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.

Attached Files

Published - SCHAapjl08.pdf

Submitted - 0808.0185.pdf

Files

SCHAapjl08.pdf
Files (220.5 kB)
Name Size Download all
md5:3769046e61dcd1574ea23eb96c2c1071
80.0 kB Preview Download
md5:029001aba4a3ba3a40860f0e6b0fd7b6
140.5 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023