Published March 20, 2006
| Version Submitted + Published
Journal Article
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Water Ice on the Satellite of Kuiper Belt Object 2003 EL₆₁
Abstract
We have obtained a near-infrared spectrum of the brightest satellite of the large Kuiper Belt object 2003 EL_(61). The spectrum has absorption features at 1.5 and 2.0 μm, indicating that water ice is present on the surface. We find that the satellite's absorption lines are much deeper than water ice features typically found on Kuiper Belt objects. We argue that the unusual spectrum indicates that the satellite was likely formed by impact and not by capture.
Additional Information
© 2006 American Astronomical Society. Received 2006 January 24; accepted 2006 February 3; published 2006 February 28. The authors thank Chad Trujillo, David Rabinowitz, and Robin Canup for their helpful discussions regarding this Letter. We also thank Antonin Bouchez for his help during observations and our anonymous reviewer for the constructive comments. This research is funded by the California Institute of Technology and is also supported by the NASA Planetary Astronomy program. Data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.Attached Files
Published - 1538-4357_640_1_L87.pdf
Submitted - 0601534.pdf
Files
0601534.pdf
Additional details
Additional titles
- Alternative title
- Water Ice on the Satellite of Kuiper Belt Object 2003 EL61
Identifiers
- Eprint ID
- 34488
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20120926-155127995
Related works
- Describes
- https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0601534 (URL)
Funding
- Caltech
- NASA
- W. M. Keck Foundation
Dates
- Created
-
2012-09-27Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2022-10-24Created from EPrint's last_modified field
Caltech Custom Metadata
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences (GPS)