We introduce here our new approach to modeling particle cloud evolution off surface of small bodies (asteroids and comets), following the evolution of ejected particles requires dealing with various time and spatial scales, in an efficient, accurate and modular way. In order to improve computational efficiency and accuracy of such calculations, we created an N-body modeling package as an extension to the increasingly popular orbital dynamics N-body integrator Rebound. Our code is currently a stand-alone variant of the Rebound code and is aimed at advancing a comprehensive understanding of individual particle trajectories, external forcing, and interactions, at the scale which is otherwise overlooked by other modeling approaches. The package we developed -- Rebound Ejecta Dynamics (RED) -- is a Python-based implementation with no additional dependencies. It incorporates several major mechanisms that affect the evolution of particles in low-gravity environments and enables a more straightforward simulation of combined effects. We include variable size and velocity distributions, solar radiation pressure, ellipsoidal gravitational potential, binary or triple asteroid systems, and particle-particle interactions. In this paper, we present a sample of the RED package capabilities. These are applied to a small asteroid binary system (characterized following the Didymos/Dimorphos system, which is the target for NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission)
Predicted Ejecta Dynamics and Observability of the 2026 Falcon 9 Upper Stage Lunar Impact
The University of Texas at Austin(德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校);Planetary Science Institute(行星科学研究所);Belgian Royal Institute for Space Aeronomy(比利时皇家空间气旋学研究所);SSC Space for the European Space Agency (ESAC)(欧洲空间局(ESAC)SSC Space)
Johns Hopkins University(约翰斯·霍普金斯大学);Space Telescope Science Institute(太空望远镜科学研究所);Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory(约翰斯·霍普金斯大学应用物理实验室);University of Oviedo(奥维耶多大学);University of Central Florida(中佛罗里达大学);The University of Arizona(亚利桑那大学);Goddard Space Flight Center(戈达德太空飞行中心)
Debris disks are scaled-up analogs of the Kuiper Belt in which dust is generated by collisions between planetesimals. In the "collisional cascade" model of debris disks, dust lost to radiation pressure and winds is constantly replenished by grinding collisions between planetesimals. The model assumes that collisions are destructive and involve large velocities; this assumption has not been tested beyond our Solar System. We present 0"25 ($\approx$2.4 au) resolution observations of the $λ$ = 450 $μ$m dust continuum emission from the debris disk around the nearby M dwarf AU Microscopii with the …
The presence of highly siderophile elements in Earth's mantle indicates that a small percentage of Earth's mass was delivered after the last giant impact in a stage of 'late accretion.' There is ongoing debate about the nature of late-accreted material and the sizes of late-accreted bodies. Earth appears isotopically most similar to enstatite chondrites and achondrites. It has been suggested that late accretion must have been dominated by enstatite-like bodies that originated in the inner disk, rather than ordinary or carbonaceous chondrites. Here, we examine the provenances of 'leftover' plan…
Impacts between planetary-sized bodies can explain the origin of satellites orbiting large ($R>500$~km) trans-Neptunian objects. Their water rich composition, along with the complex phase diagram of water, make it important to accurately model the wide range of thermodynamic conditions material experiences during an impact event and in the debris disk. Since differences in the thermodynamics may influence the system dynamics, we seek to evaluate how the choice of an equation of state (EOS) alters the system's evolution. Specifically, we compare two EOSs that are constructed by different approa…
White dwarfs which exhibit transit signatures of planetary debris and accreted planetary material provide exceptional opportunities to probe the material composition and dynamical structure of planetary systems. Although previous theoretical work investigating the role of minor body disruption around white dwarfs has focussed on spherical bodies, Solar System asteroids can be more accurately modelled as triaxial ellipsoids. Here we present an analytical framework to identify the type of disruption (tidal fragmentation, total sublimation or direct impact) experienced by triaxial asteroids appro…
Substructure evolution from protoplanetary to debris disks driven by mutually gravitating planetesimals and implications on Kepler resonances and free-floating planets
California Institute of Technology(加州理工学院);University of Hawai’i(夏威夷大学)
Institute of Science Tokyo(东京科学大学);Université Paris Cité(巴黎西岱大学);Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris(巴黎地球物理研究所);CNRS(法国国家科学研究中心);Rikkyo University(立教大学);SpaceData Inc.(SpaceData公司)
Two distinct thermal evolutionary pathways of irregular shaped small planetesimals in the early solar system have been studied. We have taken a case study of two S-type asteroids; (243) Ida and (951) Gaspra, on the basis of their precise physical dimensions accessed by the Philip Stooke small body 3-D shape models of the NASA Planetary Data System. The 3- D shape models for the two asteroids are based on the Galileo spacecraft fly-by mission. Based on our novel thermal evolutionary code for the precise shape of the asteroids we found that the small planetary bodies that accreted within the ini…
Debris belts on the periphery of planetary systems, encompassing the region occupied by planetary orbits, are massive analogues of the Solar system's Kuiper belt. They are detected by thermal emission of dust released in collisions amongst directly unobservable larger bodies that carry most of the debris disc mass. We estimate the total mass of the discs by extrapolating up the mass of emitting dust with the help of collisional cascade models. The resulting mass of bright debris discs appears to be unrealistically large, exceeding the mass of solids available in the systems at the preceding pr…