The Shape Distribution Of Kuiper Belt Objects

Jane Luu; Pedro Lacerda

doi:10.1023/B:MOON.0000031942.35907.c6

The Shape Distribution Of Kuiper Belt Objects

Jane Luu, Pedro Lacerda

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

If we assume that the periodic brightness variations in a Kuiper Belt lightcurve are determined only by their aspherical shapes and theobserving geometry, the fraction of detectable Kuiper Belt lightcurves and the lightcurve amplitude distribution can be used to constrain the shapes of Kuiper Belt objects. The results indicate that most Kuiper Belt objects (~85%) have shapes that are close to spherical (a/b <=1.5), but there is a small but significant fraction (~12%) possessing highly aspherical shapes (a/b >= 1.7). The distribution cannot be well fitted by a gaussian and is better approximated by a power law.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	221-232
Journal	Earth, Moon, and Planets
Volume	92
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1023/B:MOON.0000031942.35907.c6
Publication status	Published - 01 Jun 2003
Externally published	Yes

Access to Document

10.1023/B:MOON.0000031942.35907.c6

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003EM%26P...92..221L

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abstract = "If we assume that the periodic brightness variations in a Kuiper Belt lightcurve are determined only by their aspherical shapes and theobserving geometry, the fraction of detectable Kuiper Belt lightcurves and the lightcurve amplitude distribution can be used to constrain the shapes of Kuiper Belt objects. The results indicate that most Kuiper Belt objects (~85%) have shapes that are close to spherical (a/b <=1.5), but there is a small but significant fraction (~12%) possessing highly aspherical shapes (a/b >= 1.7). The distribution cannot be well fitted by a gaussian and is better approximated by a power law.",

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AB - If we assume that the periodic brightness variations in a Kuiper Belt lightcurve are determined only by their aspherical shapes and theobserving geometry, the fraction of detectable Kuiper Belt lightcurves and the lightcurve amplitude distribution can be used to constrain the shapes of Kuiper Belt objects. The results indicate that most Kuiper Belt objects (~85%) have shapes that are close to spherical (a/b <=1.5), but there is a small but significant fraction (~12%) possessing highly aspherical shapes (a/b >= 1.7). The distribution cannot be well fitted by a gaussian and is better approximated by a power law.

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