SCIENCE GOALS - THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO CONDUCT OBSERVATIONS OF SMALL BODIES THAT CAN BE USED TO TES…

Assistance award details

Assistance award identifier

ASST_NON_80NSSC18K0853_080

FAIN

80NSSC18K0853

Recipient

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII

Awarding agency

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Funding agency

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Assistance listing (CFDA)

43.001

Total obligated

$757,667

Period

Jun 25, 2018 – May 31, 2021

Fiscal year

2018

Place of performance state

HI

Source file

FY2018_All_Assistance_Full_20261006.zip

Description

SCIENCE GOALS - THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO CONDUCT OBSERVATIONS OF SMALL BODIES THAT CAN BE USED TO TEST SOME OF THE CURRENT SOLAR SYSTEM DYNAMICS MODELS. METHODOLOGY PROPOSED - THE OLD VIEW OF COMET FORMATION SUGGESTS THAT THE LONG-PERIOD (LP) COMETS ARE ICE-RICH PLANETESIMALS THAT FORMED IN THE VICINITY OF THE GIANT PLANETS AND WERE SCATTERED OUT TO THE OORT CLOUD AS THEIR ORBITS WERE PERTURBED BY THE GIANT PLANETS. LATER ORBITAL PERTURBATIONS BY PASSING STARS INJECTED THEM INTO THE INNER SOLAR SYSTEM WHERE THEIR ICES BEGAN TO SUBLIME UNDER THE EFFECT OF SOLAR RADIATION. OUR PARADIGM OF PLANET FORMATION IS CHANGING WITH MODELS THAT DEMONSTRATE THAT THE GIANT PLANETS MIGRATED IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM REDISTRIBUTING PLANETESIMALS BOTH BRINGING ICY MATERIAL TO THE INNER SOLAR SYSTEM AND EJECTING INNER SOLAR SYSTEM MATERIAL OUTWARD. WE HAVE NEVER HAD SAMPLES OF PRIMITIVE BUILDING BLOCKS OF MATERIAL FROM THE EARTH-FEEDING ZONE. RECENT PANSTARRS 1 DISCOVERIES OF OBJECTS ON LONG-PERIOD COMET ORBITS THAT ARE MINIMALLY ACTIVE WHILE AT SMALL PERIHELIA HAVE SUGGESTED THE INTRIGUING POSSIBILITY THAT THESE COULD POTENTIALLY REPRESENT INNER SOLAR SYSTEM MATERIAL THAT WAS EJECTED INTO THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM DURING PLANET MIGRATION THAT IS NOW MAKING ITS WAY BACK IN. THE FIRST OBJECT DISCOVERED IN 2013 TURNED OUT TO HAVE A SPECTRUM REDDER THAN D-TYPE OBJECTS BUT EXHIBITED LOW-LEVEL ACTIVITY THROUGHOUT PERIHELION PASSAGE. THE SECOND ONE APPEARS TO HAVE AN S-TYPE ASTEROID SPECTRUM AND WAS LIKEWISE ACTIVE AT LOW LEVEL. NEITHER SPECTRAL TYPE HAS BEEN SEEN TO BE ACTIVE BEFORE. PAN-STARRS1 AND OTHER ALL-SKY SURVEYS ARE DISCOVERING OVER A DOZEN OF THESE OBJECTS PER YEAR. SCIENCE OBJECTIVE - WE PROPOSE TO CHARACTERIZE A SET OF MINIMALLY ACTIVE OBJECTS ON LONG-PERIOD COMET ORBITS TO UNDERSTAND THE DISTRIBUTION OF SMALL BODY SURFACE MATERIAL TYPES (E.G. C-CLASS D-CLASS S-CLASS). OUR SAMPLE INCLUDES BEING DISCOVERED BY ALLSKY SURVEYS AND ADDITIONALLY WE WILL SEARCH EXISTING ASTRONO