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Frequent violent collisions of impactors from space punctuated the geological and atmospheric evolution of early Earth. It is generally accepted that the most massive collisions altered the chemistry of Earth’s earliest atmosphere, but the consequences of Archaean collisions for atmospheric oxidation are little understood. Early Archaean (4.0–3.5 billion years ago (Ga)) impact flux models are tightly constrained by lunar cratering and radiometric data. Further, a record of the late Archaean (3.5–2.5 Ga) impact flux is provided by terrestrial impact spherule layers—formed by collisions with bodies ≥10–20 km in diameter—although this record is probably incomplete and significant uncertainties remain. Here we show, on the basis of an assessment of impactor-related spherule records and modelling of the atmospheric effects of these impacts, that current bombardment models underestimate the number of late Archaean spherule layers. These findings suggest that the late Archaean impactor flux was up to a factor of ten higher than previously thought. We find that the delivered impactor mass was an important sink of oxygen, suggesting that early bombardment could have delayed Earth’s atmosphere oxidation. In addition, late Archaean large impacts (≥10 km) probably caused drastic oscillations of atmospheric oxygen, with an average time between consecutive collisions of about 15 Myr. This pattern is consistent with a known episode of atmospheric oxygen oscillation at ~2.5 Ga that is bracketed by large impacts recorded by Bee Gorge (~2.54 Ga) and Dales Gorge (~2.49 Ga) spherule layers. The oxygenation of Earth may have been delayed due to high late Archaean extraterrestrial impact rates, which acted as a fluctuating sink of atmospheric oxygen, according to a reassessment of past impactor fluxes and atmospheric chemistry modelling.

Context Jupiter-family Comets (JFCs) is a cometary population with a rich evolutionary history. Originating from the Kuiper Belt and the scattered disk, they evolve in the giant-planet region, where they spent a considerable amount of time as Centaurs, before reaching Jupiter-crossing orbits through a series of close encounters with the giant planets [1]. The recent observations of long-distant cometary activity (e.g. [2]), alongside with the existence of active Centaurs [3] suggest the possibility of thermal processing during their journey towards their current positions in the inner solar system. In this study we seek to investigate this potential thermal processing from the moment a comet leaves its reservoir and throughout its evolution in the giant-planet region, until its ejection from the solar system. Methods We use a sample of 276 simulated JFCs successfully representing the orbital distribution of JFCs, taken from a N-body simulation tracking the orbital evolution of the giant planets and a large number of small bodies of the outer planetesimal disk [4]. We apply a 1D thermal evolution model [5] on every simulated JFC in order to resolve the heat diffusion equation and obtain the temperature distribution in their interiors. Simplifications are adopted in order to overcome the complexity imposed by the different timescales of the thermal and dynamical processes involved. Special consideration is given to the thermal conductivity, key parameter of the thermal evolution model, to assess its influence in the simulation's results. Results The stochastic nature of the trajectories towards the inner solar system results in a pattern of long-lasting periods of heating, randomly spread out over the simulated JFCs lifetimes. As a consequence significant subsurface layers are heated, providing the conditions for substantial alterations to take place. Free condensed hypervolatile species are mostly concerned, as temperatures allowing their sublimation can be found down to the innermost parts of the nucleus in the majority of the objects in our sample. Layers extending several tenths of meters below the surface are also liable to lose primordial condensed moderately-volatile material, while the front of amorphous water-ice is expected to withdraw by a few meters as well. Perspectives This study suggests that for any typically observed JFCs, activity is very likely triggered from already processed subsurface layers, indicating the necessity to account for the entire evolutionary history in order to interpret current observations in a broader context. Acknowledgements This study is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 802699). We gratefully acknowledge support from the PSMN (Pôle Scientifique de Modélisation Numérique) of the ENS de Lyon for the computing resources. Example of the temperature distribution for the first 200m below the surface for a simulated JFC, after leaving the Kuiper Belt (panel (a): orbital evolution given by an averaged semimajor axis), for three different values of the thermal conductivity (panels (b) to (d): 5.4 10-3, 5.4 10-4 and 5.410-5 Wm-1K-1) respectively.

The origin of Jupiter Trojans (JTs) remains an open problem. The currently leading theory assumes that JTs were captured to their orbits near the Lagrangian points during the early reconfiguration of the giant planets (Morbidelli et al. 2005; Nesvorný et al. 2013). The natural source region for the majority of JTs would then be the population of planetesimals born in a massive trans-Neptunian disk. As a result, JTs should share the physical properties of currently observed trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), as well as comets and irregular satellites of giant planets. Other theories avoid involving the planetary reconfiguration event and postulate that JTs formed at their current location together with Jupiter (see reviews in Marzari et al. 2002; Emery et al. 2015), or were born in the Jupiter coorbital zone and accompanied its early inward migration (Pirani et al. 2019). In this work, we adopt the capture model for JTs as a baseline hypothesis, because several other pieces of evidence support the view that giant planets underwent a violent instability at some early moment of the Solar System evolution (see, e.g., Nesvorný 2018). In our contribution, we compile photometric datasets for about 900 JTs and apply the convex inversion technique in order to derive their shapes and spin states. We obtained full solutions for 71 JTs, and partial solutions (of a little less statistical significance) for additional 15 JTs. This represents an increase in the sample of known spin state and shape solutions for JTs by a factor of ∼3. JTs librating about L4 and L5 points contribute roughly equally to our solutions. We found a factor of ~1.5 between the number of prograde and retrograde populations, or ~60% abundance of prograde rotators in the overall JT population. We found evidence that the observed distribution of the rotation pole obliquities/latitudes of JTs qualitatively resembles expectations from a numerical simulation of the streaming instability, the leading mechanism for the formation of planetesimals in the trans-Neptunian disk. JTs pole distribution has a slightly smaller north/south asymmetry, but this can be plausibly reconciled by the effects of a brief period of post-formation collisional activity. Our numerical simulations of the post-capture spin evolution indicate the JTs pole distribution is not significantly affected by dynamical processes. AcknowledgmentsThe work of JH and JD has been supported by the Czech Science Foundation through grant 20-08218S. The work of DV has been supported by the Czech Science Foundation through grant 21-11058S. The work of OP has been supported by INTER-EXCELLENCE grant LTAUSA18093 from the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports. [1] Emery, J. P., Marzari, F., Morbidelli, A., French, L. M., & Grav, T. 2015, in Asteroids IV, ed. P. Michel, F. E. DeMeo, & W. F. Bottke, 203–220[2] Marzari, F., Scholl, H., Murray, C., & Lagerkvist, C. 2002, in Asteroids III, ed. W. F. Bottke, A. Cellino, P. Paolicchi, & R. P. Binzel, 725–738[3] Morbidelli, A., Levison, H. F., Tsiganis, K., & Gomes, R. 2005, Nature, 435, 462[4] Nesvorný, D., Vokrouhlický, D., & Morbidelli, A. 2013, Astrophysical Journal, 768, 45[5] Nesvorný, D. 2018, Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 56, 137[6] Pirani, S., Johansen, A., & Mustill, A. J. 2019, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 631, A89[7] Morbidelli, A., Levison, H. F., Tsiganis, K., & Gomes, R. 2005, Nature, 435, 462

Evidence for cometary activity beyond Jupiter and Saturn's orbits -- such as that observed for Centaurs and long period comets -- suggests that the thermal processing of comet nuclei starts long before they enter the inner Solar System, where they are typically observed and monitored. Such observations raise questions as to the depth of unprocessed material, and whether the activity of JFCs can be representative of any primitive material. Here we model the coupled thermal and dynamical evolution of Jupiter Family Comets (JFCs), from the moment they leave their outer Solar System reservoirs until their ejection into interstellar space. We apply a thermal evolution model to a sample of simulated JFCs obtained from dynamical simulations (arXiv:1706.07447) that successfully reproduce the orbital distribution of observed JFCs. We show that due to the stochastic nature of comet trajectories toward the inner solar system, all simulated JFCs undergo multiple heating episodes resulting in significant modifications of their initial volatile contents. A statistical analysis constrains the extent of such processing. We suggest that primordial condensed hypervolatile ices should be entirely lost from the layers that contribute to cometary activity observed today. Our results demonstrate that understanding the orbital (and thus, heating) history of JFCs is essential when putting observations in a broader context., Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, to be published in ApJ

TOI-2202 b is a transiting warm Jovian-mass planet with an orbital period of P=11.91 days identified from the Full Frame Images data of five different sectors of the TESS mission. Ten TESS transits of TOI-2202 b combined with three follow-up light curves obtained with the CHAT robotic telescope show strong transit timing variations (TTVs) with an amplitude of about 1.2 hours. Radial velocity follow-up with FEROS, HARPS and PFS confirms the planetary nature of the transiting candidate (a$_{\rm b}$ = 0.096 $\pm$ 0.002 au, m$_{\rm b}$ = 0.98 $\pm$ 0.06 M$_{\rm Jup}$), and dynamical analysis of RVs, transit data, and TTVs points to an outer Saturn-mass companion (a$_{\rm c}$ = 0.155 $\pm$ 0.003 au, m$_{\rm c}$= $0.37 \pm 0.10$ M$_{\rm Jup}$) near the 2:1 mean motion resonance. Our stellar modeling indicates that TOI-2202 is an early K-type star with a mass of 0.82 M$_\odot$, a radius of 0.79 R$_\odot$, and solar-like metallicity. The TOI-2202 system is very interesting because of the two warm Jovian-mass planets near the 2:1 MMR, which is a rare configuration, and their formation and dynamical evolution are still not well understood., Accepted for publication in AJ

Introduction Comets are often referred to as the most pristine objects in our Solar System. Formed during the early stages of our planetary system and preserved in its coldest outskirts, comets are considered to be extremely well preserved remnants of the Solar Nebula [1]. However in the Kuiper Belt, comet nuclei may be heated at temperatures up to 30-50 K [2]. In addition, from the moment of their first ejection from their reservoirs, to the moment of their detection and observation, an important period of time remains unaccounted for, from a thermal evolution modeling point of view. In fact, constraining the journey of a comet nucleus towards the inner parts of the Solar System is not a straight forward procedure, since it is chaotic due to close encounters with giant planets [3]. We seek to investigate this intermediate stage in the dynamical evolution of comets and its potential effects on their thermal evolution, as we believe that significant thermal alterations can take place, as evidenced by the existence of active Centaurs [4]. Methods We aim to get a first-order assessment of the extent of thermal processing of comet nuclei during their dynamical evolution from the Kuiper Belt to the inner Solar System. We apply a 1D thermal evolution model in order to resolve the heat diffusion equation and obtain the temperature profiles in a comet nucleus [5]. To simplify the problem, which is complex due to the very different timescales involved for the various processes, we neglect in this preliminary work any ice phase transition (sublimation or crystallization). Thermo-physical parameters are otherwise standard [6]. A special consideration has been taken for the thermal conductivity, the most critical parameter in this study, with three values of the Hertz factor (h) used to account for the geometry of contact between grains. This simplified model is applied to a sample of 276 dynamical clones, all representative of active JFCs, with perihelion distances within 2.5 au [3]. Results For each clone, we observe several, long-lasting passages close enough to the Sun for the nucleus to be significantly altered. Those are spread throughout the clone's dynamical evolution, resulting in the heating of a significant subsurface layer. We note that the radial extent of this layer is strongly related to the thermal conductivity of the porous medium, which in its turn depends on the selected geometrical scenario. A statistical analysis, performed for all values of the thermal conductivity considered, shows that the sublimation temperatures of the main volatile components of comets (CO, CO2, H2O) can be reached, sometimes down to the innermost parts of the nucleus. In this context, most clones might lose an important fraction (yet to be determined) of their volatile content. Perspectives This preliminary work suggests that a comet's orbital past may result in a significant thermal processing of the nucleus. Further work will be performed to fully constrain the extent of such processing. Acknowledgments This study is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 802699). We gratefully acknowledge support from the PSMN (Pôle Scientifique de Modélisation Numérique) of the ENS de Lyon for the computing resources. References [1] Filacchione et al. (2019) SSRv, 215, 46 [2] Prialnik et al. (2004) in Comets II, Festou, Keller, Weaver (Eds.), 359 [3] Nesvorny et al. (2017) ApJ, 845, 25 [4] Jewitt (2009) AJ, 137, 4296 [5] Guilbert-Lepoutre et al. (2011) A&A, 529, 71 [6] Huebner et al. (2006) Heat and Gas Diffusion in Comet Nuclei (Published for The ISSI)

The cold classical Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) possess a high, ≳30% binary fraction. Widely separated and dynamically fragile, these binary systems have been useful in tracing the origins of KBOs. A new class of binaries was recently identified by their colors. The so-called blue binaries are unanimously members of the less red compositional class, and exhibit a 100% binary fraction. They appear to be push-out survivors, emplaced in the classical region during Neptune’s phases of outward migration. The presence of these binary systems implies that the majority of objects that formed near the cold classical region formed as binaries. Here we present new optical color measurements of cold classical KBOs from the Colors of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey, including colors of a blue binary discovered by the Solar System Origins Legacy Survey—2015 RJ277. The increased size of the colors sample has resulted in order-of-magnitude decrease in the probability that the binaries and singles sample share the same color distribution. From the Anderson–Darling statistic, this probability is only a 0.3%, while it is only 0.002% when utilizing the difference of means statistic. We find a hint that the blue binaries have inflated free inclinations compared to their red counterparts, consistent with the push-out origin for these bodies.

This white paper advocates for the inclusion of small, captured Outer Solar system objects, found in the Ice Giant region in the next Decadal Survey. These objects include the Trojans and Irregular satellite populations of Uranus and Neptune. The captured small bodies provide vital clues as to the formation of our Solar system. They have unique dynamical situations, which any model of Solar system formation needs to explain. The major issue is that so few of these objects have been discovered, with very little information known about them. The purpose of this document is to prioritize further discovery and characterization of these objects. This will require the use of NASA and NSF facilities over the 2023 2032 decade, including additional support for analysis. This is in preparation for potential future insitu missions in the following decades., Comment: Community Science White Paper for the Planetary and Astrobiology Decadal Survey, 2023-2032

In this work we combine several constraints provided by the crater records on Arrokoth and the worlds of the Pluto system to compute the size-frequency distribution (SFD) of the crater production function for craters with diameter D≤ 10km. For this purpose, we use a Kuiper belt objects (KBO) population model calibrated on telescopic surveys, that describes also the evolution of the KBO population during the early Solar System. We further calibrate this model using the crater record on Pluto, Charon and Nix. Using this model, we compute the impact probability of bodies with diameter d>2km on Arrokoth, integrated over the age of the Solar System, that we compare with the corresponding impact probability on Charon. Our result, together with the observed density of sub-km craters on Arrokoth's imaged surface, constrains the power law slope of the crater production function. Other constraints come from the absence of craters with 17km and the relationship between the spatial density of sub-km craters on Arrokoth and of D ~ 20km craters on Charon. Together, these data suggest the crater production function on these worlds has a cumulative power law slope of -1.5KBO

The Colours of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (Col-OSSOS, Schwamb et al., 2019) has examined the surface compositions of Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) by way of broadband g-, r- and J-band photometry, using the Gemini North Hawaii Telescope. This survey showed a bimodal distribution in the colours of the objects surveyed, consistent with previous colour surveys (Tegler et al., 2016). These broadband surface colours can be considered a proxy for surface composition of these KBOs, so this survey allows the frequency of different surface compositions within the outer Solar System to be explored. The bimodality of the observed colours suggests the presence of some sort of surface transition within the Kuiper belt, perhaps due to a volatile ice-line transition in the pristine planetesimal disk that existed before Neptune’s migration. The Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS, Bannister et al., 2018), from which Col-OSSOS selected objects brighter than 23.6 r-band magnitude, has well characterised and quantified biases, so allowing for comparisons between the observations and numerical models of the Kuiper belt.By applying different colour transitions to the primordial planetesimal disk, in this work we explore the possible positions for ice line/colour transitions within the planetesimal disk that existed before Neptune’s migration. Within Schwamb et al. (2019), a simplified toy model was used to investigate the possible position of this transition. Nesvorny et al. (2020) has investigated the primordial colour fraction, in particular how it can create the inclination distribution that we see in the colours of KBOs today. In this work we use a full dynamical model of the Kuiper belt to more precisely pinpoint the possible location of this transition. We make use of the model by Nesvorny & Vokrouhlicky (2016) of Neptune’s migration from 23 au to 30 au, and the consequent perturbation of the Kuiper belt into its current form. This model allows precise tracking of the objects from their pre-Neptune migration to post-Neptune migration positions, allowing various colour transition positions in the initial disk, an example of which is shown in Figure 1, to be compared with the Col-OSSOS observations of the modern day disk.Figure 1: An example red/neutral transition at 27 au. The left plots show the objects in the primordial disk, while the right plots show the objects post-Neptune migration from the model of Nesvorny & Vokrouhlicky (2016).The OSSOS survey simulator (Lawler et al., 2018) can then be used to calculate which of the simulated objects could have been observed by OSSOS, and so selected by Col-OSSOS for surface colour observations. The colour transition within the initial disk, shown in Figure 1, is moved radially outwards through the disk and the corresponding outputs are compared with the Col-OSSOS colour observations to see which initial disk colour transition positions are consistent with the modern day Kuiper belt. We will present results combing an accurate dynamical model of the Kuiper Belt’s evolution by Nesvorny & Vokrouhlicky (2016) with Col-OSSOS photometry. We will explore multiple radial colour distributions in the primordial planetesimal disk and implications for the the positions of ice line/colour transitions within the Kuiper Belt’s progenitor populations. ReferencesBannister, M. T., Gladman, B. J., Kavelaars, J. J., et al. 2018, ApJS, 236, 18Lawler, S. M., Kavelaars, J. J., Alexandersen, M., et al. 2018, Front. Astron. Space Sci., 5, 14Nesvorny, D., Vokrouhlicky, D., Alexandersen, M., et al. 2020, AJ, in pressNesvorny, D., & Vokrouhlicky, D. 2016, ApJ, 825Schwamb, M. E., Bannister, M. T., Marsset, M., et al. 2019, ApJS, 243, 12Tegler, S. C., Romanishin, W., Consolmagno, G. J., & J., S. 2016, AJ, 152, 210

We combine several constraints provided by the crater records on Arrokoth and the worlds of the Pluto system to compute the size-frequency distribution (SFD) of the crater production function for craters with diameter D, Comment: In press in the special issue of Icarus "Pluto System, Kuiper Belt, and Kuiper Belt Objects"

Several properties of the Solar System, including the wide radial spacing of the giant planets, can be explained if planets radially migrated by exchanging orbital energy and momentum with outer disk planetesimals. Neptune's planetesimal-driven migration, in particular, has a strong advocate in the dynamical structure of the Kuiper belt. A dynamical instability is thought to have occurred during the early stages with Jupiter having close encounters with a Neptune-class planet. As a result of the encounters, Jupiter acquired its current orbital eccentricity and jumped inward by a fraction of an au, as required for the survival of the terrestrial planets and from asteroid belt constraints. Planetary encounters also contributed to capture of Jupiter Trojans and irregular satellites of the giant planets. Here we discuss the dynamical evolution of the early Solar System with an eye to determining how models of planetary migration/instability can be constrained from its present architecture., Posted with permission from the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 56 \copyright\ by Annual Reviews, http://www.annualreviews.org. This is a preprint version of the article has not been reviewed, edited, or prepared for publication by Annual Reviews. See http://www.annualreviews.org for the published version

Recent spacecraft and radar observations found that ∼70% of short-period comet nuclei, mostly Jupiter-family comets (JFCs), have bilobate shapes (two masses connected by a narrow neck). This is in stark contrast to the shapes of asteroids of similar sizes, of which ∼14% are bilobate. This suggests that a process or mechanism unique to comets is producing these shapes. Here we show that the bilobate shapes of JFC nuclei are a natural byproduct of sublimative activity during their dynamical migration from their trans-Neptunian reservoir, through the Centaur population, and into the Jupiter family. We model the torques resulting from volatile sublimation during this dynamical migration, and find that they tend to spin up these nuclei to disruption. Once disrupted, the rubble pile-like material properties of comet nuclei (tensile strengths of ∼1–10 Pa and internal friction angles of ∼35°) cause them to reform as bilobate objects. We find that JFCs likely experienced rotational disruption events prior to entering the Jupiter family, which could explain the prevalence of bilobate shapes. These results suggest that the bilobate shapes of observed comets developed recently in their history (within the past ∼1–10 Myr), rather than during solar system formation or collisions during planet migration and residency in the trans-Neptunian population.

The timeline of the lunar bombardment in the first Gy of the Solar System remains unclear. Some basin-forming impacts occurred 3.9-3.7Gy ago. Many other basins formed before, but their exact ages are not precisely known. There are two possible interpretations of the data: in the cataclysm scenario there was a surge in the impact rate approximately 3.9Gy ago, while in the accretion tail scenario the lunar bombardment declined since the era of planet formation and the latest basins formed in its tail-end. Here, we revisit the work of Morbidelli et al.(2012) that examined which scenario could be compatible with both the lunar crater record in the 3-4Gy period and the abundance of highly siderophile elements (HSE) in the lunar mantle. We use updated numerical simulations of the fluxes of impactors. Under the traditional assumption that the HSEs track the total amount of material accreted by the Moon since its formation, we conclude that only the cataclysm scenario can explain the data. The cataclysm should have started ~3.95Gy ago. However we show that HSEs could have been sequestered from the lunar mantle due to iron sulfide exsolution during magma ocean crystallization, followed by mantle overturn. Based on the hypothesis that the lunar magma ocean crystallized about 100-150My after Moon formation, and therefore that HSEs accumulated in the lunar mantle only after this time, we show that the bombardment in the 3-4Gy period can be explained in the accretion tail scenario. This hypothesis would also explain why the Moon appears so depleted in HSEs relative to the Earth. We also extend our analysis of the cataclysm and accretion tail scenarios to the case of Mars. The accretion tail scenario requires a global resurfacing event on Mars ~4.4Gy ago, possibly associated with the formation of the Borealis basin, and it is consistent with the HSE budget of the planet., Comment: in press in Icarus

The main asteroid belt (MB) is low in mass but dynamically excited. Here we propose a new mechanism to excite the MB during the giant planet ('Nice model') instability, which is expected to have featured repeated close encounters between Jupiter and one or more ice giants ('Jumping Jupiter' -- JJ). We show that, when Jupiter temporarily reaches a high enough level of excitation, both in eccentricity and inclination it induces strong forced vectors of eccentricity and inclination across the MB region. Because during the JJ instability Jupiter's orbit `jumps' around, the forced vectors keep changing both in magnitude and phase throughout the whole MB region. The entire cold primordial MB is thus excited as a natural outcome of the JJ instability. The level of such an excitation, however, is typically larger than the current orbital excitation observed in the MB. We show that the subsequent evolution of the Solar System is capable of reshaping the resultant over-excited MB to its present day orbital state, and that a strong mass depletion ($\sim$90$\%$) is associated to the JJ instability phase and its subsequent evolution throughout the age of the Solar System., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

Recent works on planetary migration show that the orbital structure of the Kuiper belt can be very well reproduced if before the onset of the planetary instability Neptune underwent a long-range planetesimal-driven migration up to $\sim$28 au. However, considering that all giant planets should have been captured in mean motion resonances among themselves during the gas-disk phase, it is not clear whether such a very specific evolution for Neptune is possible, nor whether the instability could have happened at late times. Here, we first investigate which initial resonant configuration of the giant planets can be compatible with Neptune being extracted from the resonant chain and migrating to $\sim$28 au before that the planetary instability happened. We address the late instability issue by investigating the conditions where the planets can stay in resonance for about 400 My. Our results indicate that this can happen only in the case where the planetesimal disk is beyond a specific minimum distance $\delta_{stab}$ from Neptune. Then, if there is a sufficient amount of dust produced in the planetesimal disk, that drifts inwards, Neptune can enter in a slow dust-driven migration phase for hundreds of Mys until it reaches a critical distance $\delta_{mig}$ from the disk. From that point, faster planetesimal-driven migration takes over and Neptune continues migrating outward until the instability happens. We conclude that, although an early instability reproduces more easily the evolution of Neptune required to explain the structure of the Kuiper belt, such evolution is also compatible with a late instability., Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ

The orbital structure of the asteroid belt holds a record of the Solar System's dynamical history. The current belt only contains ${\rm \sim 10^{-3}}$ Earth masses yet the asteroids' orbits are dynamically excited, with a large spread in eccentricity and inclination. In the context of models of terrestrial planet formation, the belt may have been excited by Jupiter's orbital migration. The terrestrial planets can also be reproduced without invoking a migrating Jupiter; however, as it requires a severe mass deficit beyond Earth's orbit, this model systematically under-excites the asteroid belt. Here we show that the orbits of the asteroids may have been excited to their current state if Jupiter and Saturn's early orbits were chaotic. Stochastic variations in the gas giants' orbits cause resonances to continually jump across the main belt and excite the asteroids' orbits on a timescale of tens of millions of years. While hydrodynamical simulations show that the gas giants were likely in mean motion resonance at the end of the gaseous disk phase, small perturbations could have driven them into a chaotic but stable state. The gas giants' current orbits were achieved later, during an instability in the outer Solar System. Although it is well known that the present-day Solar System exhibits chaotic behavior, our results suggest that the early Solar System may also have been chaotic., Accepted for publication in ApJ

The majority of extraterrestrial particles entering Earth’s atmosphere originate from the Sporadic Meteoroid Complex (SMC) and are associated with many mesospheric layer phenomena. The Meteoroid Input Function (MIF) is a model that has been developed with the purpose of understanding the temporal and spatial variability of the meteoroid impact in the atmosphere. The MIF has been shown to accurately predict the seasonal and diurnal variations of the meteor flux observed by High Power Large Aperture (HPLA) radars at various geographic locations, including the Arecibo Observatory (AO) and the Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar (PFISR). For this, the model requires the assessment of a potential observational bias of the particular HPLA radar utilized: the minimum detectable radar cross-section (RCS). The RCS sensitivity threshold provides a metric to characterize the radar system’s ability to detect particles with a given mass and speed. In this paper, the MIF model was used to predict meteor properties (e.g. the distributions of areal density, speed, and radiant location) observed by the Middle and Upper atmosphere (MU) radar while leveraging the system’s interferometric capability to address the model’s ability to predict meteor observations at middle geographic latitudes and for a radar operating frequency in the low VHF band. This study demonstrates that the MIF accurately considered the speed and sporadic source distributions for the portion of the meteoroid population observable by the MU radar, and the applicability of the MIF to the MU system increases the confidence of using it as a global model.

Themis is an old and statistically robust asteroid family populating the outer main belt, and resulting from a catastrophic collision that took place 2.5$\pm$1.0 Gyr ago. Within the old Themis family a young sub-family, Beagle, formed less than 10 Myr ago, has been identified. We present the results of a spectroscopic survey in the visible and near infrared range of 22 Themis and 8 Beagle families members. The Themis members investigated exhibit a wide range of spectral behaviors, while the younger Beagle family members look spectrally bluer with a smaller spectral slope variability. The best meteorite spectral analogues found for both Themis and Beagle families members are carbonaceous chondrites having experienced different degrees of aqueous alteration, prevalently CM2 but also CV3 and CI, and some of them are chondrite samples being unusual or heated. We extended the spectral analysis including the data available in the literature on Themis and Beagle families members, and we looked for correlations between spectral behavior and physical parameters using the albedo and size values derived from the WISE data. The analysis of this larger sample confirm the spectral diversity within the Themis family and that Beagle members tend to be bluer and to have an higher albedo. The differences between the two family may be partially explained by space weathering processes, which act on these primitive surfaces in a similar way than on S-type asteroids, i.e. producing reddening and darkening. However we see several Themis members having albedos and spectral slopes similar to the young Beagle members. Alternative scenarios are proposed including heterogeneity in the parent body having a compositional gradient with depth, and/or the survival of projectile fragments having a different composition than the parent body., Manuscript pages: 40; Figures: 15 ; Tables: 4 Icarus (2016),in press

For the Love of Iron Iron-loving elements such as Re, Os, Ir, Pt, Rh, Pd, and Au must have been delivered to the upper mantle of Earth, Mars, and the Moon after formation of the planetary cores, because, before that, these elements tended to bond with the core's metallic iron, stripping them from the planetary upper layers. Using Monte Carlo models, Bottke et al. (p. 1527 ) show that the relative abundances of iron-loving elements on Earth, Mars, and the Moon can be explained if most of the impacting planetesimals that delivered the elements had sizes extending up to several thousand kilometers. In these circumstances, most of the iron-loving elements would arrive in a small number of random impacts, the most massive of which hit Earth but not the Moon. Some of these impacts may also have altered Earth's obliquity, produced the Moon's orbital inclination, and delivered water to the Moon's mantle.

This is the first focused study of non-Eos K asteroids. We have observed a total of 30 K-complex objects (12 K-2 Sk- and 13 Xk-type asteroids (from the Bus taxonomy), plus 3 K-candidates from previous work) and we present an analysis of their spectral properties from 0.4 to 2.5 μm. We targeted these asteroids because their previous observations are spectrally similar enough to suggest a possible compositional relationship. All objects have exhibited spectral redness in the visible wavelengths and minor absorptions near 1 micron. If, as suggested, K-complex asteroids (including K, Xk, and Sk) are the parent bodies of carbonaceous meteorites, knowledge of K-asteroid properties and distribution is essential to our understanding of the cosmochemical importance of some of the most primitive meteorite materials in our collection. This paper presents initial results of our analysis of telescopic data, with supporting analysis of laboratory measurements of meteorite analogs. Our results indicate that K-complex asteroids are distinct from other main belt asteroid types (S, B, C, F, and G). They do not appear to be a subset of these other types. K asteroids nearly span the range of band center positions and geometric albedos exhibited by the carbonaceous chondrites (CO, CM, CV, CH, CK, CR, and CI). We find that B-, C-, F- and G-type asteroids tend to be darker than meteorites, and can have band centers longer than any of the chondrites measured here. This could indicate that K-complex asteroids are better spectral analogues for the majority of our carbonaceous meteorites than the traditional B-, C-, F- and G-matches suggested in the literature. This paper present first results of our ongoing survey to determine K-type mineralogy, meteorite linkages, and significance to the geology of the asteroid regions.

We use numerical simulations to investigate the production of dust trails by asteroid disruption events. Our work shows that asteroid trails evolve into pairs of dust bands over time. Coherent trails typically survive several tens of kyr before evolving into complete bands after ~1 Myr. The transition timescale depends sensitively on the location of the source breakup event in the main asteroid belt. Bands develop more efficiently from sources in the middle/outer belt than in the inner belt, which may not produce observable pairs of bands at all. The infrared structures produced by recent disruption events (

The Nice model of the dynamical instability and migration of the giant planets can explain many properties of the present Solar System, and can be used to constrain its early architecture. In the jumping-Jupiter version of the Nice model, required from the terrestrial planet constraint and dynamical structure of the asteroid belt, Jupiter has encounters with an ice giant. Here we study the survival of the Galilean satellites in the jumping-Jupiter model. This is an important concern because the ice-giant encounters, if deep enough, could dynamically perturb the orbits of the Galilean satellites, and lead to implausible results. We performed numerical integrations where we tracked the effect of planetary encounters on the Galilean moons. We considered three instability cases from Nesvorny & Morbidelli (2012) that differed in the number and distribution of encounters. We found that in one case, where the number of close encounters was relatively small, the Galilean satellite orbits were not significantly affected. In the other two, the orbital eccentricities of all moons were excited by encounters, Callisto's semimajor axis changed, and, in a large fraction of trials, the Laplace resonance of the inner three moons was disrupted. The subsequent evolution by tides damps eccentricities and can recapture the moons in the Laplace resonance. A more important constraint is represented by the orbital inclinations of the moons, which can be excited during the encounters and not appreciably damped by tides. We find that one instability case taken from Nesvorny & Morbidelli (2012) clearly fails this constraint. This shows how the regular satellites of Jupiter can be used to set limits on the properties of encounters in the jumping-Jupiter model, and help us to better understand how the early Solar System evolved., The Astronomical Journal, in press

Embedded in the gaseous protoplanetary disk, Jupiter and Saturn naturally become trapped in 3:2 resonance and migrate outward. This serves as the basis of the Grand Tack model. However, previous hydrodynamical simulations were restricted to isothermal disks, with moderate aspect ratio and viscosity. Here we simulate the orbital evolution of the gas giants in disks with viscous heating and radiative cooling. We find that Jupiter and Saturn migrate outward in 3:2 resonance in modest-mass ($M_{disk} \approx M_{MMSN}$, where MMSN is the "minimum-mass solar nebula") disks with viscous stress parameter $\alpha$ between $10^{-3}$ and $10^{-2} $. In disks with relatively low-mass ($M_{disk} \lesssim M_{MMSN}$) , Jupiter and Saturn get captured in 2:1 resonance and can even migrate outward in low-viscosity disks ($\alpha \le 10^{-4}$). Such disks have a very small aspect ratio ($h\sim 0.02-0.03$) that favors outward migration after capture in 2:1 resonance, as confirmed by isothermal runs which resulted in a similar outcome for $h \sim 0.02$ and $\alpha \le 10^{-4}$. We also performed N-body runs of the outer Solar System starting from the results of our hydrodynamical simulations and including 2-3 ice giants. After dispersal of the gaseous disk, a Nice model instability starting with Jupiter and Saturn in 2:1 resonance results in good Solar Systems analogs. We conclude that in a cold Solar Nebula, the 2:1 resonance between Jupiter and Saturn can lead to outward migration of the system, and this may represent an alternative scenario for the evolution of the Solar System., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

Dawson and Murray-Clay (2012) pointed out that the inner part of the cold population in the Kuiper belt (that with semi major axis a, in press in Icarus

From the list of 2321 transiting planet candidates announced by the Kepler Mission, we select seven targets with favorable properties for the capacity to dynamically maintain an exomoon and present a detectable signal. These seven candidates were identified through our automatic target selection (TSA) algorithm and target selection prioritization (TSP) filtering, whereby we excluded systems exhibiting significant time-correlated noise and focussed on those with a single transiting planet candidate of radius less than 6 Earth radii. We find no compelling evidence for an exomoon around any of the seven KOIs but constrain the satellite-to-planet mass ratios for each. For four of the seven KOIs, we estimate a 95% upper quantile of M_S/M_P, 32 pages, 11 figures, 23 tables, Accepted to ApJ

Kepler-22b is the first transiting planet to have been detected in the habitable-zone of its host star. At 2.4 Earth radii, Kepler-22b is too large to be considered an Earth-analog, but should the planet host a moon large enough to maintain an atmosphere, then the Kepler-22 system may yet possess a telluric world. Aside from being within the habitable-zone, the target is attractive due to the availability of previously measured precise radial velocities and low intrinsic photometric noise, which has also enabled asteroseismology studies of the star. For these reasons, Kepler-22b was selected as a target-of-opportunity by the 'Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler' (HEK) project. In this work, we conduct a photodynamical search for an exomoon around Kepler-22b leveraging the transits, radial velocities and asteroseismology plus several new tools developed by the HEK project to improve exomoon searches. We find no evidence for an exomoon around the planet and exclude moons of mass >0.5 Earth masses to 95% confidence. By signal injection and blind retrieval, we demonstrate that an Earth-like moon is easily detected for this planet even when the time-correlated noise of the data set is taken into account. We provide updated parameters for the planet Kepler-22b including a revised mass of 95% probability of being within the empirical habitable-zone but a, 19 pages, 11 figures, 7 tables. Accepted in ApJ. Planet-moon transit animations available at https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~dkipping/kepler22.html

We analyze the distribution of extrasolar planets (both confirmed and Kepler candidates) according to their orbital periods P and planetary radii R. Among confirmed planets, we find compelling evidence for a paucity of bodies with 3 < R < 10 R_\oplus, where R_\oplus in the Earth's radius, and P < 2-3 days. We have christened this region a "sub-Jovian Pampas". The same trend is detected in multiplanet Kepler candidates. Although approximately 16 Kepler single-planet candidates inhabit this Pampas, at least 7 are probable false positives (FP). This last number could be significantly higher if the ratio of FP is higher than 10%, as suggested by recent studies. In a second part of the paper we analyze the distribution of planets in the (P,R) plane according to stellar metallicities. We find two interesting trends: (i) a lack of small planets (R < 4 R_\oplus) with orbital periods P < 5 days in metal-poor stars, and (ii) a paucity of sub-Jovian planets (4 R_\oplus < R < 8 R_\oplus) with P < 100 days, also around metal-poor stars. Although all these trends are preliminary, they appear statistically significant and deserve further scrutiny. If confirmed, they could represent important constraints on theories of planetary formation and dynamical evolution., Accepted in ApJ

Two decades ago, empirical evidence concerning the existence and frequency of planets around stars, other than our own, was absent. Since this time, the detection of extrasolar planets from Jupiter-sized to most recently Earth-sized worlds has blossomed and we are finally able to shed light on the plurality of Earth-like, habitable planets in the cosmos. Extrasolar moons may also be frequent habitable worlds but their detection or even systematic pursuit remains lacking in the current literature. Here, we present a description of the first systematic search for extrasolar moons as part of a new observational project called "The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler" (HEK). The HEK project distills the entire list of known transiting planet candidates found by Kepler (2326 at the time of writing) down to the most promising candidates for hosting a moon. Selected targets are fitted using a multimodal nested sampling algorithm coupled with a planet-with-moon light curve modelling routine. By comparing the Bayesian evidence of a planet-only model to that of a planet-with-moon, the detection process is handled in a Bayesian framework. In the case of null detections, upper limits derived from posteriors marginalised over the entire prior volume will be provided to inform the frequency of large moons around viable planetary hosts, eta-moon. After discussing our methodologies for target selection, modelling, fitting and vetting, we provide two example analyses., 21 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables, accepted in ApJ

NASA's Dawn spacecraft observations of asteroid (4) Vesta reveal a surface with the highest albedo and color variation of any asteroid we have observed so far. Terrains rich in low albedo dark material (DM) have been identified using Dawn Framing Camera (FC) 0.75 {\mu}m filter images in several geologic settings: associated with impact craters (in the ejecta blanket material and/or on the crater walls and rims); as flow-like deposits or rays commonly associated with topographic highs; and as dark spots (likely secondary impacts) nearby impact craters. This DM could be a relic of ancient volcanic activity or exogenic in origin. We report that the majority of the spectra of DM are similar to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites mixed with materials indigenous to Vesta. Using high-resolution seven color images we compared DM color properties (albedo, band depth) with laboratory measurements of possible analog materials. Band depth and albedo of DM are identical to those of carbonaceous chondrite xenolith-rich howardite Mt. Pratt (PRA) 04401. Laboratory mixtures of Murchison CM2 carbonaceous chondrite and basaltic eucrite Millbillillie also show band depth and albedo affinity to DM. Modeling of carbonaceous chondrite abundance in DM (1-6 vol%) is consistent with howardite meteorites. We find no evidence for large-scale volcanism (exposed dikes/pyroclastic falls) as the source of DM. Our modeling efforts using impact crater scaling laws and numerical models of ejecta reaccretion suggest the delivery and emplacement of this DM on Vesta during the formation of the ~400 km Veneneia basin by a low-velocity (, Comment: Icarus (Accepted) Pages: 58 Figures: 15 Tables: 2

Understanding the growth of the cores of giant planets is a difficult problem. Recently, Lambrechts and Johansen (2012; LJ12) proposed a new model in which the cores grow by the accretion of pebble-size objects, as the latter drift towards the star due to gas drag. Here, we investigate the dynamics of pebble-size objects in the vicinity of planetary embryos of 1 and 5 Earth masses and the resulting accretion rates. We use hydrodynamical simulations, in which the embryo influences the dynamics of the gas and the pebbles suffer gas drag according to the local gas density and velocities. The pebble dynamics in the vicinity of the planetary embryo is non-trivial, and it changes significantly with the pebble size. Nevertheless, the accretion rate of the embryo that we measure is within an order of magnitude of the rate estimated in LJ12 and tends to their value with increasing pebble-size. We conclude that the model by LJ12 has the potential to explain the rapid growth of giant planet cores. The actual accretion rates however, depend on the surface density of pebble size objects in the disk, which is unknown to date., Comment: In press in Astronomy and Astrophysics