On the Spin Dynamics of Elongated Minor Bodies with Applications to a Possible Solar System Analogue Composition for ‘Oumuamua

Seligman, Darryl Z.; Levine, W. Garrett; Laughlin, Gregory; Meech, К. J.

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac1594

Cited by 17 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…The most notable objects are 2I/Borisov, R2, and 'Oumuamua. We show four postperihelion measurements of Borisov's C/O ratio and a nominal C/O value for 'Oumuamua, under the assumption that its nongravitational acceleration was driven by outgassing of CO (Seligman et al 2021b). The Centaur 29P also has a high C/O > 0.5, but its large heliocentric distance, 6 au, implies that there is likely more H 2 O present in the comet that is inactive.…”

Section: Carbon and Oxygen Measured In Cometary Bodiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An artificial origin could not be confirmed, since no radio signals were found to be coming from the object (Enriquez et al 2018;Tingay et al 2018;Harp et al 2019). If the acceleration was powered by outgassing (Seligman et al 2019), the energetics could be consistent with a bulk composition of H 2 (Füglistaler & Pfenniger 2018;Seligman & Laughlin 2020;, N 2 , or CO (Seligman et al 2021b). Other theories invoke a tidally fragmented planetesimal (Raymond et al 2018;Zhang & Lin 2020) and ejection from a post-main-sequence star system (Hansen & Zuckerman 2017;Rafikov 2018a;Katz 2018) or circumbinary system (Ćuk 2018;Jackson et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Volatile Carbon-to-oxygen Ratio as a Tracer for the Formation Locations of Interstellar Comets

et al. 2022

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Based on the occurrence rates implied by the discoveries of 1I/‘Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov, the forthcoming Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) should detect ≥one interstellar object every year. We advocate for future measurements of the production rates of H2O, CO2, and CO in these objects to estimate their carbon-to-oxygen ratios, which trace formation locations within their original protoplanetary disks. We review similar measurements for solar system comets, which indicate formation interior to the CO snow line. By quantifying the relative processing in the interstellar medium and solar system, we estimate that production rates will not be representative of primordial compositions for the majority of interstellar comets. Preferential desorption of CO and CO2 relative to H2O in the interstellar medium implies that measured C/O ratios represent lower limits on the primordial ratios. Specifically, production rate ratios of Q(CO)/Q(H2O) < 0.2 and Q(CO)/Q(H2O) > 1 likely indicate formation interior and exterior to the CO snow line, respectively. The high C/O ratio of 2I/Borisov implies that it formed exterior to the CO snow line. We provide an overview of the currently operational facilities capable of obtaining these measurements that will constrain the fraction of ejected comets that formed exterior to the CO snow line. This fraction will provide key insights into the efficiency of and mechanisms for cometary ejection in exoplanetary systems.

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Section: Carbon and Oxygen Measured In Cometary Bodiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Volatile Carbon-to-oxygen Ratio as a Tracer for the Formation Locations of Interstellar Comets

et al. 2022

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“…The nongravitational acceleration has been postulated to be driven by radiation pressure (Micheli et al 2018), which could be explained if 'Oumuamua was an ultralow-density fractal aggregate (Moro-Martín 2019b; Sekanina 2019; Luu et al 2020) or a millimeter-thin artificial light sail (Bialy & Loeb 2018). If the nongravitational acceleration was powered by cometary outgassing (Micheli et al 2018;Seligman et al 2019), it has been demonstrated that the energetics are consistent with the sublimation of H 2 (Füglistaler & Pfenniger 2015;Seligman & Laughlin 2020;, N 2 , or CO (Seligman et al 2021). Recently, Flekkøy & Brodin (2022) calculated infrared and optical spectral signatures that would differentiate between the various proposed scenarios.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Population of Interstellar Objects Detectable with the LSST and Accessible for In Situ Rendezvous with Various Mission Designs

Hoover¹,

Seligman²,

Payne³

2022

Planet. Sci. J.

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The recently discovered population of interstellar objects presents us with the opportunity to characterize material from extrasolar planetary and stellar systems up close. The forthcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will provide an unprecedented increase in sensitivity to these objects compared to the capabilities of currently operational observational facilities. We generate a synthetic population of ‘Oumuamua-like objects drawn from their galactic kinematics and identify the distribution of impact parameters, eccentricities, hyperbolic velocities, and sky locations of objects detectable with the LSST, assuming no cometary activity. This population is characterized by a clustering of trajectories in the direction of the solar apex and antiapex, centered at orbital inclinations of ∼90°. We identify the ecliptic or solar apex as the optimal sky location to search for future interstellar objects as a function of survey limiting magnitude. Moreover, we identify the trajectories of detectable objects that will be reachable for in situ rendezvous with a dedicated mission with the capabilities of the forthcoming Comet Interceptor or proposed Bridge concept. By scaling our fractional population statistics with the inferred spatial number density, we estimate that the LSST will detect of order ∼15 interstellar objects over the course of its ∼10 yr observational campaign. Furthermore, we find that there should be ∼1–3 and ∼0.0007–0.001 reachable targets for missions with propulsion capabilities comparable to Bridge and Comet Interceptor, respectively. These numbers are lower limits and will be readily updateable when the number density and size–frequency distribution of interstellar objects are better constrained.

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“…The composition of 'Oumuamua was not measured because no coma was detected (Meech et al 2017;Jewitt et al 2017;Trilling et al 2018). Based on the object's non-gravitational acceleration (Micheli et al 2018) (Seligman et al 2021b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inferring Late Stage Enrichment of Exoplanet Atmospheres from Observed Interstellar Comets

Seligman,

Becker,

Adams

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The discovery of the first two interstellar comets implies that, on average, every star contributes a substantial amount of material to the galactic population by ejecting such bodies from the host system. Since scattering is a chaotic process, a comparable amount of material should be injected into the inner regions of each system that ejects comets. For comets that are transported inwards and interact with planets, this Letter estimates the fraction of material that is accreted or outward-scattered as a function of planetary masses and orbital parameters. These calculations indicate that planets with escape velocities smaller than their current day orbital velocities will efficiently accrete comets. We estimate the accretion efficiency for members of the current census of extrasolar planets, and find that planetary populations including but not limited to hot and warm Jupiters, sub-Neptunes and super-Earths can efficiently capture incoming comets. This cometary enrichment may have important ramifications for post-formation atmospheric composition and chemistry. As a result, future detections and compositional measurements of interstellar comets will provide direct measurements of material that potentially enriched a sub-population of the extrasolar planets. Finally, we estimate the efficiency of this enrichment mechanism for extrasolar planets that will be observed with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). With JWST currently operational and these observations imminently forthcoming, it is of critical importance to investigate how enrichment from interstellar comet analogues may affect the interpretations of exoplanet atmospheric compositions.

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On the Spin Dynamics of Elongated Minor Bodies with Applications to a Possible Solar System Analogue Composition for ‘Oumuamua

Cited by 17 publications

References 72 publications

The Volatile Carbon-to-oxygen Ratio as a Tracer for the Formation Locations of Interstellar Comets

The Volatile Carbon-to-oxygen Ratio as a Tracer for the Formation Locations of Interstellar Comets

The Population of Interstellar Objects Detectable with the LSST and Accessible for In Situ Rendezvous with Various Mission Designs

Inferring Late Stage Enrichment of Exoplanet Atmospheres from Observed Interstellar Comets

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