A Kinder, Gentler Neptune

Artist’s conception of a loosely tethered binary planetoid pair like those studied by Fraser et al. in this work which led to the conclusion that Neptune’s shepherding of them to the Kuiper Belt as gradual and gentle in nature. Credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA, artwork by Joy Pollard.

"It’s a kinder, gentler Neptune," says Gemini astronomer Meg Schwamb in describing a new result that leaves little doubt about how Neptune gently swept a class of planetoid pairs into the outer Solar System.

The research team, led by Wes Fraser of Queen’s University in Belfast, UK, used data collected from the Gemini North Frederick C. Gillett Telescope and Canada-France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) both on Maunakea in Hawai‘i. The team measured the colors of peculiar new Cold Classical Kuiper Belt Object (CCKBO) pairs as part of the Colours of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (Col-OSSOS). The study focused on these loosely bound pairs of planetoids that are believed to have been shepherded by Neptune’s gravitational nudges into their current orbits in the distant Kuiper Belt. The paper is published in the April 4th issue of the journal Nature Astronomy (subscription required).

See the full Gemini press release and a link to the Queen’s University release here.