The Mass Disruption of Oort Cloud Comets-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

The Mass Disruption of Oort Cloud Comets

Published:2002-06-21 Issue:5576 Volume:296 Page:2212-2215
ISSN:0036-8075
Container-title:Science
language:en
Short-container-title:Science

Author:

Levison Harold F.¹,Morbidelli Alessandro²,Dones Luke¹,Jedicke Robert³,Wiegert Paul A.⁴,Bottke William F.¹

Affiliation:

1. Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 426, Boulder, CO 80302, USA.

2. Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, B. P. 4229, 06034 Nice Cedex 4, France.

3. Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.

4. Department of Physics, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada.

Abstract

We have calculated the number of dormant, nearly isotropic Oort cloud comets in the solar system by (i) combining orbital distribution models with statistical models of dormant comet discoveries by well-defined surveys and (ii) comparing the model results to observations of a population of dormant comets. Dynamical models that assume that comets are not destroyed predict that we should have discovered ∼100 times more dormant nearly isotropic comets than are actually seen. Thus, as comets evolve inward from the Oort cloud, the majority of them must physically disrupt.

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Subject

Multidisciplinary

Reference51 articles.

1. Oort J. H., Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. 11, 91 (1950).

2. The Evolution of Long-Period Comets

3. H 10 is a distance-independent measure of the brightness of active comets that includes the coma.

4. We use the notation of (14). An NIC is defined as an object that has a Tisserand parameter T with respect to Jupiter of less than 2. The encounter velocity with Jupiter is νJ3−T where ν J is the mean orbital velocity of Jupiter around the Sun. NICs typically have semi-major axes greater than that of Jupiter.

5. On their first trip through the inner solar system NICs have semi-major axes a larger than ∼10 000 AU. The large a 's result from the dynamics of the Oort cloud itself. Oort cloud comets are brought into the planetary region by the gravitational effects of the Galaxy which act like a tide. The tide grows larger as a comet moves farther from the Sun. Objects initially on orbits with a < 10 000 AU rarely make it directly into the inner solar system because they first gravitationally encounter a giant planet [see (31 38) for a more complete discussion]. However beyond ∼10 000 AU the tides are strong enough that a comet can effectively jump over the jovian planet region (i.e. the comet's perihelion distance q can evolve from ≥10 to ≤3 AU in just one orbital period). Thus it can arrive in the inner solar system without being measurably perturbed by a giant planet. Once comets are in the inner planetary system for the first time gravitational interactions with the giant planets can then either eject them from the solar system entirely or markedly alter their semi-major axes from a > 10 000 AU to much smaller values. (1 9 39). Thus comets that have made more than one passage through the planetary system which are called returning comets typically have smaller semi-major axes than do those on their first passage.

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