The colors of cometary nuclei—Comparison with other primitive bodies of the Solar System and implications for their origin

We present new color results of cometary nuclei obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) whose superior resolution enables us to accurately isolate the nucleus signals from the surrounding comae. By combining with scrutinized available data obtained with ground-based telescopes, we accumulated a sample of 51 cometary nuclei, 44 ecliptic comets (ECs) and 7 nearly-isotropic comets (NICs) using the nomenclature of Levison [Levison, H.F., 1996. In: Rettig, T.W., Hahn, J.M. (Eds.), Completing the Inventory of the Solar System. In: ASP Conf. Ser., vol. 107, pp. 173-192]. We analyze color distributions and color-color correlations as well as correlations with other physical parameters. We present our compilation of colors of 232 outer Solar System objects—separately considering the different dynamical populations, classical KBOs in low and high-inclination orbits (respectively CKBO-LI and CKBO-HI), resonant KBOs (practically Plutinos), scattered-disk objects (SDOs) and Centaurs—of 12 candidate dead comets, and of 85 Trojans. We perform a systematic analysis of all color distributions, and conclude by synthesizing the implications of the dynamical evolution and of the colors for the origin of the minor bodies of the Solar System. We find that the color distributions are remarkably consistent with the scenarios of the formation of TNOs by Gomes [Gomes, R.S., 2003. Icarus 161, 404-418] generalized by the “Nice” model [Levison, H.F., Morbidelli, A., VanLaerhoven, Ch., Gomes, R., Tsiganis, L., 2008. Icarus 196, 258-273], and of the Trojans by Morbidelli et al. [Morbidelli, A., Levison, H.F., Tsiganis, K., Gomes, R., 2005. Nature 435, 462-465]. The color distributions of the Centaurs are globally similar to those of the CKBO-HI, the Plutinos and the SDOs. However the potential bimodality of their distributions allows to possibly distinguish two groups based on their (B−R) index: Centaur I with (B−R)>1.7 and Centaurs II with (B−R)<1.4. Centaurs I could be composed of TNOs (prominently CKBO-LI) and ultra red objects from a yet unstudied family. Centaurs II could consist in a population of evolved objects which have already visited the inner Solar System, and which has been scattered back beyond Jupiter. The diversity of colors of the ECs, in particular the existence of very red objects, is consistent with an origin in the Kuiper belt. Candidate dead comets represent an ultimate state of evolution as they appear more evolved than the Trojans and Centaurs II.     

Deglacial pattern of circulation and marine productivity in the upwelling region off central-south Chile

A high-resolution sea surface temperature and paleoproductivity reconstruction on a sedimentary record collected at 36°S off central-south Chile (GeoB 7165-1, 36°33′S, 73°40′W, 797 m water depth, core length 750 cm) indicates that paleoceanographic conditions changed abruptly between 18 and 17 ka. Comparative analysis of several cores along the Chilean continental margin (30°–41°S) suggests that the onset and the pattern of deglacial warming was not uniform off central-south Chile due to the progressive southward migration of the Southern Westerlies and local variations in upwelling. Marine productivity augmented rather abruptly at 13–14 ka, well after the oceanographic changes. We suggest that the late deglacial increase in paleoproductivity off central-south Chile reflects the onset of an active upwelling system bringing nutrient-rich, oxygen-poor Equatorial Subsurface Water to the euphotic zone, and a relatively higher nutrient load of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. During the Last Glacial Maximum, when the Southern Westerlies were located further north, productivity off central-south Chile, in contrast to off northern Chile, was reduced due to direct onshore-blowing winds that prevented coastal upwelling and export production.     

Mhd Interpretation of LASCO Observations of a Coronal Mass Ejection as a Disconnected Magnetic Structure

We present a qualitative and quantitative comparison of a single coronal mass ejection (CME) as observed by LASCO (July 28–29, 1996) with the results of a three-dimensional axisymmetric time-dependent magnetohydrodynamic model of a flux rope interacting with a helmet streamer. The particular CME considered was selected based on the appearance of a distinct ‘tear-drop’ shape visible in animations generated from both the data and the model. The CME event begins with the brightening of a pre-existing coronal streamer which evolves into a ‘tear-drop’ shaped loop followed by a Y-shaped structure. The brightening moves slowly outward with significant acceleration reaching velocities of ∼450 km s^-1 at 30 R⊙. The observed CME characteristics are compared with the model results. On the basis of this comparison, we suggested that the observed features were caused by the evacuation of a flux rope in the closed field region of the helmet streamer (i.e., helmet dome). The flux rope manifests itself as the cavity of the quasi-static helmet streamer and the whole system becomes unstable when the flux rope reaches a threshold strength. The observed ‘tear-drop’ structure is due to the deformed flux rope. The leading edge of the flux rope interacts with the helmet dome to form the typical loop-like CME. The trailing edge of this flux rope interacts with the local bi-polar field to form the observed Y-shaped structure. The model results for the evolution of the magnetic-field configurations, velocity, and polarization brightness are directly compared with observations. Animations have been generated from both the actual data and the model to illustrate the good agreement between the observation and the model. These animations can be found on the CD-ROM which accompanies this volume. Supplementary material to this paper is available in electronic form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1004923016322