Centaur shapes and the origin of bilobate Jupiter-family comets

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, May, 2020

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Safrit, Taylor K.
Other Authors: Amanda Bosh.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127665
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author Safrit, Taylor K.
author2 Amanda Bosh.
author_facet Amanda Bosh.
Safrit, Taylor K.
author_sort Safrit, Taylor K.
collection MIT
description Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, May, 2020
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spelling mit-1721.1/1276652022-09-22T11:03:01Z Centaur shapes and the origin of bilobate Jupiter-family comets Safrit, Taylor K. Amanda Bosh. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, May, 2020 Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 28-29). The bilobate shape distribution of Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) is of unconstrained origin. One theory is that JFC progenitors become bilobate in the Centaur region, where sublimation of volatiles from object surfaces may spin objects up beyond a critical limit and disrupt them. We examine models of rotational body stresses to learn about this disruption. We also present new observations of four Centaurs in an effort to further constrain the shape distribution of the Centaur population. Of these four, insufficient data were gathered for three (2014 KR101, 2013 TC146, and 2013 XZ8). The fourth (2014 QA43) is shown to have a rotational period of 11.558 hours and is at minimum 11.5% elongated. This is not commensurate with a bilobate shape; there remain no known bilobate Centaurs. by Taylor K. Safrit. S.M. S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences 2020-09-21T16:42:20Z 2020-09-21T16:42:20Z 2020 2020 Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127665 1193029178 eng MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 37 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.
Safrit, Taylor K.
Centaur shapes and the origin of bilobate Jupiter-family comets
title Centaur shapes and the origin of bilobate Jupiter-family comets
title_full Centaur shapes and the origin of bilobate Jupiter-family comets
title_fullStr Centaur shapes and the origin of bilobate Jupiter-family comets
title_full_unstemmed Centaur shapes and the origin of bilobate Jupiter-family comets
title_short Centaur shapes and the origin of bilobate Jupiter-family comets
title_sort centaur shapes and the origin of bilobate jupiter family comets
topic Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127665
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