Project Details
Projekt
Observations of Planet Embryos and their Collision Fragments
Applicant
Professor Dr. Alan Harris
Subject Area
Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry
Term
from 2010 to 2015
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 144221893
Transneptunian Objects (TNOs) are believed to be frozen leftovers from the formation of the Solar System, analogous to the extrasolar debris observed around several 10 - 500 Myr old stars. The Centaurs are closer to the Sun and in transition from the TNO region (Kuiper belt) towards the inner solar system. More than 1300 TNOs and about 100 Centaurs have been detected so far. We are using the Herschel Space Observatory to physically characterize the remnant population of “planet embryos” in our own debris disk. Our Herschel Open Time Key Program observation proposal has been awarded 373 h of observing time for observations of some 140 TNOs and Centaurs. The remnant embryos, or planetesimal building blocks, of the terrestrial planets have been broken up in collisions, but fragments of them make up the main asteroid belt and the near-Earth object (NEO) populations. We are using the Spitzer Space Telescope to physically characterize about 700 such fragments (NEOs), including carbonaceous objects of the type that probably contributed to the early Earth’s inventory of water and organic materials. Our Spitzer observation proposal has been awarded 500 h of observing time.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
