DISCOVERY OF A NEW RETROGRADE TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECT: HINT OF A COMMON ORBITAL PLANE FOR LOW SEMIMAJOR AXIS, HIGH-INCLINATION TNOs AND CENTAURS
Open accessAbstract
Although the majority of Centaurs are thought to have originated in the scattered disk, with the high-inclination members coming from the Oort cloud, the origin of the high-inclination component of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) remains uncertain. We report the discovery of a retrograde TNO, which we nickname “Niku,” detected by the Pan-STARRS 1 Outer Solar System Survey. Our numerical integrations show that the orbital dynamics of Niku are very similar to that of 2008 KV 42 (Drac), with a half-life of ∼500 Myr. Comparing similar high-inclination TNOs and Centaurs (q > 10 au, a < 100 au, and i > 60°), we find that these objects exhibit a surprising clustering of ascending node, and occupy a common orbital plane. This orbital configuration has high statistical significance: 3.8-σ. An unknown mechanism is required to explain the observed clustering. This discovery may provide a pathway to investigating a possible reservoir of high-inclination objects.
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The more finely-tuned simulation suite of Nesvorný (2015b) boosts the upper envelope of the inclination distribution to i ~ 40 deg, but perpendicular and strongly retrograde objects such as Drac, Niku, and other long-period Centaurs are never produced in these calculations.
“While the more finely-tuned simulation suite of Nesvorn´ y (2015b) boost the upper envelope of the inclination distribution to i 40 deg, perpendicular and strongly retrograde objects such as Drac (Gladman et al., 2009), Niku (Chen et al., 2016) as well other long-period Centaurs (Gomes et al., 2015) are never produced in these calculations.”
From The planet nine hypothesis (2019) · cites this paper as Chen et al., 2016
P9-induced dynamics significantly boosts the inclination dispersion of comparatively short-period TNOs, providing a natural explanation for nearly orthogonal orbits such as those of Drac and Niku.
“First, P9-induced dynamics significantly boosts the inclination dispersion of comparatively short-period TNOs, providing a natural explanation for the existence of nearly orthogonal orbits, such as those of Drac (Gladman et al., 2009) and Niku (Chen et al., 2016).”
From The planet nine hypothesis (2019) · cites this paper as Chen et al., 2016
Cites
A hybrid symplectic integrator that permits close encounters between massive bodies
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Evidence for a Distant Giant Planet in the Solar System
Batygin, K., & Brown, M. E. (2016) · The Astronomical Journal · doi:10.3847/0004-6256/151/2/22 · Cited by 432 · cited 5× · see citing works
“We note that the simulations in Batygin & Brown (2016), provide a source of high-i and large-a TNOs with a clustered distribution of Ω.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialGomes, R. S., Soares, J. S., & Brasser, R. (2015) · Icarus · doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2015.06.020 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Observational Constraints on Planet Nine: Astrometry of Pluto and Other Trans-Neptunian Objects
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Batygin, K., Adams, F. C., Brown, M. E., & Becker, J. C. (2019) · Physics Reports · doi:10.1016/j.physrep.2019.01.009 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
“, 2009), Niku (Chen et al., 2016) as well other long-period Centaurs (Gomes et al.”
BackgroundInfluentialConsequences of a Distant Massive Planet on the Large Semimajor Axis Trans-Neptunian Objects
Shankman, C., Kavelaars, J. J., Lawler, S. M., Gladman, B. J., & Bannister, M. T. (2017) · The Astronomical Journal · doi:10.3847/1538-3881/153/2/63 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
- Authors
- Chen (陳英同), Y.-T., Lin (林省文), H. W., Holman, M. J., Payne, M. J., Fraser, W. C., Lacerda, P., Ip (葉永烜), W.-H., Chen (陳文屏), W.-P., Kudritzki, R.-P., Jedicke, R., Wainscoat, R. J., Tonry, J. L., Magnier, E. A., Waters, C., Kaiser, N., Wang, S.-Y., & Lehner, M.
- Affiliations
- Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US)
- Queen's University Belfast (GB)
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US)
- Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica (TW)
- ORCID
- Venue
- The Astrophysical Journal Letters
- Publisher
- American Astronomical Society
- Published
- 2016-08-12
- Volume
- 827
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- L24
- ISSN
- 2041-8205 (ISSN-L)
- 2041-8213
- OpenAlex
- W2486766886
- Cited by
- 60
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 4.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The Astrophysical Journal Letters (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (1238877)
- Smithsonian Institution
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NNX08AR22G, AST-1238877)
- Johns Hopkins University
- Space Telescope Science Institute (NNX08AR22G)
- Durham University
- Ministry of Education, India
- National Central University
- Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie
- Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
- Science Mission Directorate (NNX08AR22G)
- Canadian Space Agency
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/L000709/1, ST/M001970/1, ST/M003515/1)
- Planetary Science Division (NNX08AR22G)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Space Satellite Systems and Control
- Keywords
- centaurs, scattered disk, Oort cloud, orbital dynamics
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