TUNA Lunch Talk
| Date & Time | Tuesday June 12, 2012
12:10-1:00pm |
| Location | NRAO, Room 230 |
| Title | Looking at the Kuiper Belt From the Thermal Side |
| Speaker | Arielle Moullet, National Radio Astronomy Observatory | | Abstract | IR, (sub)mm and cm-wavelength observations have been so far obtained on about 50 Kuiper Belt objects and Centaurs, measuring the thermal
emission from the surfaces of these distant objects that are believed to
be amongst the most pristine in the Solar System. These observations can be used to apply the radiometric method, that is the most effective way to derive the equivalent size of these objects that are usually to small to be resolved. The comparison of thermal and optical rotational
lightcurves allows one to distinguish shape effects from albedo
distribution to explain brightness variations. Thermal measurements are
also indicative of surface properties such as roughness, albedo and
thermal inertia. The physical description of Centaurs and Kuiper Belt
objects is essential to characterize the processes acting on their
surfaces, as well as to retrace the formation and evolution of the
different populations, in particular by identifying families and
correlations between orbital and physical properties. Thanks to their
unprecedented sensitivity, the most recent thermal instruments
(Herschel, ALMA and the JVLA) are and will be playing a fundamental role in the understanding of the Kuiper Belt. In this talk, I will describe
different projects that can be performed with ALMA - Cycle 1 and full
science - based on specific examples. At completion, ALMA should be able to provide thermal measurements for bodies as small as 100 km in
diameter (more than 30% of the known population). In addition to
lightcurve and radiometric measurements, ALMA's exquisite spatial
resolution could be used to provide the first thermal imaging of the
largest objects, directly determine sizes and shapes, as well as to
separate the members of several multiple systems. Finally, CO-line
observations could be performed to detect and/or characterize the thin
KBOs' atmospheres.
|
|
|
|
