Title

Planetary Science Goals For The Spitzer Warm Era

Keywords

Asteroids; Infrared astronomical observations; Kuiper Belt objects; Spitzer space telescope; Trans-Neptunian objects

Abstract

The overarching goal of planetary astronomy is to deduce how the present collection of objects found in our Solar System were formed from the original material present in the proto-solar nebula. As over two hundred exo-planetary systems are now known, and multitudes more are expected, the Solar System represents the closest and best system which we can study, and the only one in which we can clearly resolve individual bodies other than planets. In this White Paper we demonstrate how to use Spitzer Space Telescope InfraRed Array Camera Channels 1 and 2 (3.6 and 4.5 μm) imaging photometry with large dedicated surveys to advance our knowledge of Solar System formation and evolution. There are a number of vital, key projects to be pursued using dedicated large programs that have not been pursued during the five years of Spitzer cold operations. We present a number of the largest and most important projects here; more will certainly be proposed once the warm era has begun, including important observations of newly discovered objects. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Publication Date

12-14-2007

Publication Title

AIP Conference Proceedings

Volume

943

Number of Pages

184-212

Document Type

Article; Proceedings Paper

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2806779

Socpus ID

36849052788 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/36849052788

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