Color, composition, and thermal environment of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth
The outer Solar System object (486958) Arrokoth (provisional designation 2014 MU69) has been largely undisturbed since its formation. We studied its surface composition using data collected by the New Horizons spacecraft. Methanol ice is present along with organic material, which may have formed thr...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2020
|
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/125025 |
| _version_ | 1826205315971940352 |
|---|---|
| author | Binzel, Richard P. Earle, A.M. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Binzel, Richard P. Earle, A.M. |
| author_sort | Binzel, Richard P. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The outer Solar System object (486958) Arrokoth (provisional designation 2014 MU69) has been largely undisturbed since its formation. We studied its surface composition using data collected by the New Horizons spacecraft. Methanol ice is present along with organic material, which may have formed through irradiation of simple molecules. Water ice was not detected. This composition indicates hydrogenation of carbon monoxide-rich ice and/or energetic processing of methane condensed on water ice grains in the cold, outer edge of the early Solar System. There are only small regional variations in color and spectra across the surface, which suggests that Arrokoth formed from a homogeneous or well-mixed reservoir of solids. Microwave thermal emission from the winter night side is consistent with a mean brightness temperature of 29 ± 5 kelvin. ©2020 |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:10:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/125025 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:10:45Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1250252022-09-28T12:27:19Z Color, composition, and thermal environment of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth Binzel, Richard P. Earle, A.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences The outer Solar System object (486958) Arrokoth (provisional designation 2014 MU69) has been largely undisturbed since its formation. We studied its surface composition using data collected by the New Horizons spacecraft. Methanol ice is present along with organic material, which may have formed through irradiation of simple molecules. Water ice was not detected. This composition indicates hydrogenation of carbon monoxide-rich ice and/or energetic processing of methane condensed on water ice grains in the cold, outer edge of the early Solar System. There are only small regional variations in color and spectra across the surface, which suggests that Arrokoth formed from a homogeneous or well-mixed reservoir of solids. Microwave thermal emission from the winter night side is consistent with a mean brightness temperature of 29 ± 5 kelvin. ©2020 NASA (contract no. NASW-02008) NASA (grant no. NAS5-97271 / TaskOrder30) 2020-05-05T19:41:34Z 2020-05-05T19:41:34Z 2020-02 2020-04-03T18:10:18Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/125025 Grundy, W.M., et al., "Color, composition, and thermal environment of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth." Science 367, 6481 (Feb. 2020): no. eaay3705 doi 10.1126/science.aay3705 ©2020 Author(s) en 10.1126/science.aay3705 Science Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) arXiv |
| spellingShingle | Binzel, Richard P. Earle, A.M. Color, composition, and thermal environment of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth |
| title | Color, composition, and thermal environment of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth |
| title_full | Color, composition, and thermal environment of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth |
| title_fullStr | Color, composition, and thermal environment of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth |
| title_full_unstemmed | Color, composition, and thermal environment of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth |
| title_short | Color, composition, and thermal environment of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth |
| title_sort | color composition and thermal environment of kuiper belt object 486958 arrokoth |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/125025 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT binzelrichardp colorcompositionandthermalenvironmentofkuiperbeltobject486958arrokoth AT earleam colorcompositionandthermalenvironmentofkuiperbeltobject486958arrokoth |