From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Mon Oct 22 2007 - 08:16:28 PDT
Detection of methane on Kuiper Belt Object (50000) Quaoar
Authors: E.L. Schaller, M.E. Brown
(Submitted on 18 Oct 2007)
Abstract: The near-infrared spectrum of (50000) Quaoar obtained at the Keck
Observatory shows distinct absorption features of crystalline water ice,
solid methane and ethane, and possibly other higher order hydrocarbons.
Quaoar is only the fifth Kuiper belt object on which volatile ices have been
detected. The small amount of methane on an otherwise water ice dominated
surface suggests that Quaoar is a transition object between the dominant
volatile-poor small Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) and the few volatile-rich
large KBOs such as Pluto and Eris.
Comments: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL
Subjects: Astrophysics (astro-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:0710.3591v1 [astro-ph]
Submission history
From: Emily Schaller [view email]
[v1] Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:07:48 GMT (540kb)
http://arxiv.org/abs/0710.3591
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