论文标题

P/2019 LD2(地图集):即将过渡到木星家族的活跃半人马座

P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS): An Active Centaur in Imminent Transition to the Jupiter Family

论文作者

Steckloff, Jordan, Sarid, Gal, Volk, Kathryn, Kareta, Theodore, Womack, Maria, Harris, Walter, Woodney, Laura, Schambeau, Charles

论文摘要

最近发现的对象P/2019 LD2(ATLAS)最初被认为是木星的小行星,直到动力学研究和持续的彗星活动的出现显示该对象实际上是活跃的半人马座。但是,对这种环境对2019 LD2活动的动态历史,热环境以及影响很少。在这里,我们进行动态模拟,以限制其轨道历史和在过去3000年中产生的热环境。我们发现2019年LD2目前处于动态“网关”附近,该动态“网关”有助于从半人市人口到木星家族的大多数过渡(JFC人口; Sarid等人,2019年)。我们的计算表明,在内部太阳系中不太可能花费大量时间,这表明其核在物理,化学和热处理中相对原始。这可以解释其作为最近激活的原始体的相对较高的遥远活动水平。最后,我们发现,如果2019年LD2的核在半径〜1 km或半径大于3 km的半径范围内,则从jfc群体向JFC种群的过渡频率从每〜3年到每70年不到每70年不等。 2019 LD2的正向建模表明,它将在2063年过渡到JFC人群,这代表了观察活跃半人马核演变的第一个已知机会,因为它经历了这种人群定义的过渡。

The recently discovered object P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS) was initially thought to be a Jupiter Trojan asteroid, until dynamical studies and the appearance of persistent cometary activity revealed that this object is actually an active Centaur. However, the dynamical history, thermal environment, and impact of such environments on the activity of 2019 LD2 are poorly understood. Here we conduct dynamical simulations to constrain its orbital history and resulting thermal environment over the past 3000 years. We find that 2019 LD2 is currently in the vicinity of a dynamical "Gateway" that facilitates the majority of transitions from the Centaur population into the Jupiter Family of Comets (JFC population; Sarid et al. 2019). Our calculations show that it is unlikely to have spent significant amounts of time in the inner solar system, suggesting that its nucleus is relatively pristine in terms of physical, chemical, and thermal processing through its history. This could explain its relatively high level of distant activity as a recently activated primordial body. Finally, we find that the median frequency of transition from the Gateway population into the JFC population varies from once every ~3 years to less than once every 70 years, if 2019 LD2's nucleus is ~1 km in radius or greater than 3 km in radius. Forward modeling of 2019 LD2 shows that it will transition into the JFC population in 2063, representing the first known opportunity to observe the evolution of an active Centaur nucleus as it experiences this population-defining transition.

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