The solar nebula origin of (486958) Arrokoth, a primordial contact binary in the Kuiper Belt-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

The solar nebula origin of (486958) Arrokoth, a primordial contact binary in the Kuiper Belt

Published:2020-02-28 Issue:6481 Volume:367 Page:
ISSN:0036-8075
Container-title:Science
language:en
Short-container-title:Science

Author:

McKinnon W. B.¹^ORCID,Richardson D. C.²^ORCID,Marohnic J. C.²^ORCID,Keane J. T.³^ORCID,Grundy W. M.⁴⁵^ORCID,Hamilton D. P.²^ORCID,Nesvorný D.⁶^ORCID,Umurhan O. M.⁷⁸^ORCID,Lauer T. R.⁹^ORCID,Singer K. N.⁶^ORCID,Stern S. A.⁶^ORCID,Weaver H. A.¹⁰^ORCID,Spencer J. R.¹¹^ORCID,Buie M. W.⁶^ORCID,Moore J. M.⁷^ORCID,Kavelaars J. J.¹¹^ORCID,Lisse C. M.¹⁰^ORCID,Mao X.¹^ORCID,Parker A. H.⁶^ORCID,Porter S. B.⁶^ORCID,Showalter M. R.⁸^ORCID,Olkin C. B.⁶^ORCID,Cruikshank D. P.⁷^ORCID,Elliott H. A.¹²¹³^ORCID,Gladstone G. R.¹²^ORCID,Parker J. Wm.⁶^ORCID,Verbiscer A. J.¹⁴^ORCID,Young L. A.⁶^ORCID,

Affiliation:

1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.

2. Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.

3. Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.

4. Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA.

5. Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA.

6. Division of Space Science and Engineering, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO 80302, USA.

7. NASA Ames Research Center, Space Science Division, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA.

8. SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

9. National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, National Science Foundation, Tucson, AZ 85726, USA.

10. Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA.

11. National Research Council of Canada, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada.

12. Division of Space Science and Engineering, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX 78238, USA.

13. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Texas, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA.

14. Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.

Abstract

Examining Arrokoth The New Horizons spacecraft flew past the Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth (also known as 2014 MU 69 ) in January 2019. Because of the great distance to the outer Solar System and limited bandwidth, it will take until late 2020 to downlink all the spacecraft's observations back to Earth. Three papers in this issue analyze recently downlinked data, including the highest-resolution images taken during the encounter (see the Perspective by Jewitt). Spencer et al. examined Arrokoth's geology and geophysics using stereo imaging, dated the surface using impact craters, and produced a geomorphological map. Grundy et al. investigated the composition of the surface using color imaging and spectroscopic data and assessed Arrokoth's thermal emission using microwave radiometry. McKinnon et al. used simulations to determine how Arrokoth formed: Two gravitationally bound objects gently spiraled together during the formation of the Solar System. Together, these papers determine the age, composition, and formation process of the most pristine object yet visited by a spacecraft. Science , this issue p. eaay3999 , p. eaay3705 , p. eaay6620 ; see also p. 980

Funder

National Research Council Canada

NASA Science Mission Directorate

NASA Solar System Workings Program

University of Maryland Graduate School Research and Scholarship

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Subject

Multidisciplinary

Reference107 articles.

1. The Pluto System After New Horizons

2. The New Horizons Kuiper Belt Extended Mission