Plutino

This article is about objects in a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune; they are not to be confused with plutoids or plutons.

In astronomy, a plutino is a trans-Neptunian object in 2:3 mean-motion resonance with Neptune. For every 2 orbits that a plutino makes, Neptune orbits 3 times. The term "plutino" derived from the dwarf planet Pluto, the largest and the first plutino discovered. The term does not imply common physical characteristics. Plutinos are named after mythological creatures associated with the underworld.

Plutinos form the inner part of the Kuiper belt and represent about a quarter of the known Kuiper belt objects (KBOs). Plutinos are the largest class of the resonant trans-Neptunian objects (i.e. bodies in orbital resonances with Neptune).

Aside from Pluto itself, the first plutino, (385185) 1993 RO, was discovered on September 16, 1993.

Orbits

Some of the first known plutinos compared in size, albedo and colour

Origin

It is thought that objects that are currently in mean orbital resonances with Neptune initially followed independent heliocentric paths. As Neptune migrated outward early in the Solar System's history (see origins of the Kuiper belt), the bodies it approached would have been scattered; during this process, some of them would have been captured into resonances.[1] The 3:2 resonance is the strongest and most stable among all resonances. This is the main reason it contains the largest number of bodies.

Orbital characteristics

While the majority of plutinos have low orbital inclinations, a substantial number of them follow orbits similar to that of Pluto, with inclinations in the 10–25° range and eccentricities around 0.2–0.25, resulting in perihelia inside (or close to) the orbit of Neptune and aphelia close to the main Kuiper belt's outer edge (where objects have 1:2 resonance with Neptune).

The orbital periods of plutinos cluster around 247.3 years (1.5 × Neptune's orbital period), varying by at most a few years from this value.

Unusual plutinos include:

See also the comparison with the distribution of the cubewanos.

Long-term stability

The gravitational influence of Pluto is usually neglected given its small mass. However, the resonance width (the range of semi-axes compatible with the resonance) is very narrow and only a few times larger than Pluto’s Hill sphere (gravitational influence). Consequently, depending on the original eccentricity, some plutinos will be driven out of the resonance by interactions with Pluto.[2] Numerical simulations suggest that the orbits of plutinos with an eccentricity 10%–30% smaller or larger than that of Pluto are not stable over Ga timescales.[3]

Orbital diagrams

Brightest objects

The plutinos brighter than HV=6 include:

Name Semi-major
axis (AU)
Perihelion
(AU)
Inclination
(°)
Absolute
magnitude

(H)
Size
(km)
Mass
(1020 kg)
Albedo V−R Discovery
year
Discoverer
(134340) Pluto 39.3 29.7 17.1 −0.7 2322 130 0.49–0.66 1930 Clyde Tombaugh
(90482) Orcus 39.2 30.3 20.6 2.31±0.03 917±25 6.32±0.05 0.28±0.06 0.37 2004 M. Brown,
C. Trujillo,
D. Rabinowitz
(208996) 2003 AZ84 39.4 32.3 13.6 3.74±0.08 727.0+61.9
−66.5
3 0.107+0.023
−0.016
0.38±0.04 2003 M. Brown,
C. Trujillo
(28978) Ixion 39.7 30.1 19.6 3.828±0.039 617+19
−20
3 0.141±0.011 0.61 2001 Deep Ecliptic Survey
(84922) 2003 VS2 39.3 36.4 14.8 4.1±0.38 523.0+35.1
−34.4
1.5 0.147+0.063
−0.043
0.59±0.02 2003 NEAT
(455502) 2003 UZ413 39.2 30.4 12.0 4.38±0.05 600 2 ? 0.46±0.06 2001 M. Brown,
C. Trujillo,
D. Rabinowitz
(175113) 2004 PF115 39.0 36.5 13.4 4.54±0.25 406.3+97.6
−75.3
3.5 0.113+0.082
−0.042
2004 M. Brown,
C. Trujillo,
D. Rabinowitz
(144897) 2004 UX10 39.2 37.4 9.5 4.75±0.16 361.2+124.2
−93.5
> ≈0.3 0.172+0.141
−0.078
0.58±0.05 2004 A.C. Becker
A.W. Puckett
J. Kubica
(38628) Huya 39.4 28.5 15.5 5.04±0.03 406±16 0.5 0.083±0.004 0.57±0.09 2000 Ignacio Ferrin
2006 HJ123 39.3 27.4 12.0 5.32±0.66 283.1+142.3
−110.8
0.012 0.136+0.308
−0.089
2006 Marc W. Buie
2002 XV93 39.3 34.5 13.3 5.42±0.46 549.2+21.7
−23.0
1.7 0.040+0.020
−0.015
0.37±0.02 2001 M.W.Buie
(469372) 2001 QF298 39.3 34.9 22.4 5.43±0.07 408.2+40.2
−44.9
0.7 0.071+0.020
−0.014
0.39±0.06 2001 Marc W. Buie
(47171) 1999 TC36 39.3 30.6 8.4 5.41±0.10 393.1+25.2
−26.8

(triple)
0.1275±0.0006 0.079+0.013
−0.011
0.70±0.03 1999 E. P. Rubenstein,
L.-G. Strolger
(307463) 2002 VU130 39.3 31.2 14.0 5.47±0.83 252.9+33.6
−31.3
0.16 0.179+0.202
−0.103
2002 Marc W. Buie
(84719) 2002 VR128 39.3 28.9 14.0 5.58±0.37 448.5+42.1
−43.2
1 0.052+0.027
−0.018
0.60±0.02 2002 NEAT
(55638) 2002 VE95 39.4 30.4 16.3 5.70±0.06 249.8+13.5
−13.1
0.15 0.149+0.019
−0.016
0.72±0.05 2002 NEAT

References

  1. Malhotra, Renu (1995). "The Origin of Pluto's Orbit: Implications for the Solar System Beyond Neptune". Astronomical Journal. 110: 420. arXiv:astro-ph/9504036Freely accessible. Bibcode:1995AJ....110..420M. doi:10.1086/117532.
  2. Wan, X.-S; Huang, T.-Y. (2001). "The orbit evolution of 32 plutinos over 100 million year". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 368 (2): 700–705. Bibcode:2001A&A...368..700W. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20010056.
  3. Yu, Qingjuan; Tremaine, Scott (1999). "The Dynamics of Plutinos". Astronomical Journal. 118 (4): 1873–1881. arXiv:astro-ph/9904424Freely accessible. Bibcode:1999AJ....118.1873Y. doi:10.1086/301045.
  • D.Jewitt, A.Delsanti The Solar System Beyond The Planets in Solar System Update : Topical and Timely Reviews in Solar System Sciences , Springer-Praxis Ed., ISBN 3-540-26056-0 (2006). Preprint of the article (pdf)
  • Bernstein G.M., Trilling D.E., Allen R.L., Brown K.E, Holman M., Malhotra R. The size Distribution of transneptunian bodies. The Astronomical Journal, 128, 1364–1390. preprint on arXiv
  • Minor Planet Center Orbit database (MPCORB) as of 2008-10-05.
  • Minor Planet Circular 2008-S05 (October 2008) Distant Minor planets was used for orbit classification.
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