How long can an asteroid live in the Kupier belt b...

2009-08-14T05:56:19.709-07:00

How long can an asteroid live in the Kupier belt before it ices over, either due to outgassing or collisions/accretion?

Mikeemmert: "No asteroids in the Kuiper belt" is a...

2009-08-11T06:51:00.012-07:00

Mikeemmert: "No asteroids in the Kuiper belt" is according to Morby, who >really< said no BIG asteroids in the Kuiper belt. Small ones could occasionally get captured by gas drag. But I wanted big ones to explain an off-the-wall hypothesis that I had.

The other way around is, indeed, easier.

You can delete my comments, but I'm not taking any...

2009-08-10T21:00:56.009-07:00

You can delete my comments, but I'm not taking any breaks any time soon.

Hi, Mike :) I'm so glad you had so much fun in Ri...

2009-08-10T20:37:00.027-07:00

Hi, Mike :)

I'm so glad you had so much fun in Rio. I worked a conference of the American Astronomical Society in Austin a long time ago, and it was quite a bit of fun. Most customers didn't want to talk about what they do (or even suggest a radio station!) but astronomers love what they do and that makes it very interesting to listen to them. One guy had a project to determine the temperature of the Sun with thirty micron radiation. He said it gave a better result because there were less absorption lines so it was more like a blackbody. And about thirty or so other interesting trips.

I trashed a post this morning. I was talking about Ortiz et. al.

So far I am aceing my astronomy class. My astronomy professor made an unfortunate mistake the other day (true story). He was talking about Eris and Makemake. Ahd he liked Xena better.

And he referred to you (twice) as "Butler". Gee, R. Paul Butler is famous, too. You wouldn't know it if you saw his Wikipedia article, no photo, really short. His friend, Geoff Marcy, has a nice article about him. I see that his birthday is the same as mine :)

I remember reading the article about them in either Sky & Telescope or Astronomy. They were shocked - devastated! - when Mayor and Queloz fixed the last little glitch in their program and found that huge signal from 51 Pegasi that Marcy and Butler had neglected to program for. But Butler (doing the talking) said they got over it pretty quick.

I think they were helped in acceptance by the very fact that they had made a mistake. That made it clear that Queloz and Mayor had won the horse race, fair and square. As a result, the misery only lasted one night or so.

Goeff Marcy confirmed 51 Pegasi and went on to find 70 more planets and win the prestigious Shaw Prize ($1,000,000.00)

:)

I am extremely interested in Emily Schaller's paper on the lack of dust on the KBO's. This finding places Eris, Triton, Makemake, Pluto, and Haumea in a special class, differentiated from the other KBO's by their now distinctly larger size. I hope it makes Laurel happy (sounds like she needs a grin :D) - Pluto is a special place again!

"(Is it possible that in the early solar system things from the Kuiper belt got mixed out to the asteroid belt? I, unfortunately, was told “no.” Scratch one idea I had off the board.)"

Now, THAT'S an interesting comment. Is this statement based on evidence? What evidence? If it's theoretical, then I would like to point out that Kevin Heider did a simulation that brought a Centaur into the inner solar system. On the other hand, when I was filling Neptune's Lagrange zones with comets, it was quite rare to see one get deflected in as far as Uranus. It did happen a couple of times, though.

Or was it some kind of observation? What, do comets make different kinds of craters than asteroids? I have no idea - clue us in.

Short period comets are about a quarter of all comets (learned today in class) and these were the basis for Gerard Kuiper to hypothesize the belt named in his honor. So the Kuiper belt observably leaks into the asteroid belt today.

Are we getting more leakage today than we were four billion years ago? That would be an interesting possibility. Unfortunately I'm probably at my bit limit here and I need to study my Biology textbook. Good night all.

:)

Michael C. Emmert

Mike, that sounds like a fantastic conference. I'...

2009-08-10T15:36:23.344-07:00

Mike, that sounds like a fantastic conference. I'm glad the energy and excitement was infectious.

Laurel: comment deleted. off topic + hectoring. ta...

2009-08-10T14:58:51.706-07:00

Laurel: comment deleted. off topic + hectoring. take a break for a while.

Hi Mike: Jean Mueller did something like your Afr...

2009-08-10T10:58:48.845-07:00

Hi Mike:

Jean Mueller did something like your Africa project recently. She had three of her asteroids named for entities in the Luiseño creation stories. Luiseño are the Native Americans that historically lived in and around Palomar mountain. If you know of asteriods without names, you might get in touch with other Native American groups, too.

Cheers,
Mike Vergara
Palomar Observatory Docent