Quaoar: Volcanic Activity?

Palomar · 2004-12-08 12:11:22

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/k … ml]Awesome

*Can't understand why this didn't make a HEADLINE at space.com! Or elsewhere.

Jewitt and a colleague found signs of ammonia hydrate and crystalline water ice on the surface of Quaoar. Both substances should be destroyed over a few million years by particle irradiation, they say. That's a short period of time considering the solar system's entire life of 4.6 billion years.
"We conclude that Quaoar has been recently resurfaced, either by impact exposure of previously buried ices or by cryovolcanic outgassing, or by a combination of these processes," the scientists conclude.

*And this:

Based on lab work, scientists think water must be heated to about minus 279.7 Fahrenheit (100 Kelvin) in order to form crystalline ice.
The frigid space of the Kuiper Belt, billions of miles from the Sun, is even colder than that.
"The presence of crystalline ice is surprising," said Stevenson

[Heated to -279.7 F! ]

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2004-12-09 06:32:53

Here's another link on this with some interesting facts.

Chilly Quaoar had a warmer past

Crystalline ice suggests remote object has radioactive interior.

Question how does one get radioactive material from gas clouds condensing? ???

Palomar · 2004-12-12 22:31:21

*I've been chewing on this a bit more, and just re-read the article SpaceNut posted. There's this item:

"Because Kuiper-belt objects lie more than 4.5 billion kilometres from the Sun, astronomers had thought that they were unlikely ever to get warmer than about -223°C, which is just 50°C above absolute zero, the coldest temperature possible."

*Yet the ice there -isn't- amorphous.

"So Jewitt believes that the crystalline water-ammonia mixture is more likely to have been formed inside Quaoar, warmed by the radioactive decay of elements such as uranium and thorium. Such heating could also trigger 'cryogenic volcanism'. Such volcanism involves explosions of gas and liquid that bring underground reservoirs of the ice crystals to the cold surface."

*The radioactive decay elements of uranium and thorium could still be active at near absolute zero? This article definitely touches on stuff I'm very unfamiliar with. :-\

"But I think it would not be active today."

*Erm...okay (seems like a contradiction). So what's the cause? ???

"We seem to find [crystalline ice] everywhere we look in the outer Solar System," he says. "That tells us that the process creating it is ubiquitous."

*More uranium and thorium decay throughout? Or an entirely different (yet "universal") cause?

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-12-12 23:19:20

*I've been chewing on this a bit more, and just re-read the article SpaceNut posted. There's this item:
"Because Kuiper-belt objects lie more than 4.5 billion kilometres from the Sun, astronomers had thought that they were unlikely ever to get warmer than about -223°C, which is just 50°C above absolute zero, the coldest temperature possible."
*Yet the ice there -isn't- amorphous.
"So Jewitt believes that the crystalline water-ammonia mixture is more likely to have been formed inside Quaoar, warmed by the radioactive decay of elements such as uranium and thorium. Such heating could also trigger 'cryogenic volcanism'. Such volcanism involves explosions of gas and liquid that bring underground reservoirs of the ice crystals to the cold surface."
*The radioactive decay elements of uranium and thorium could still be active at near absolute zero? This article definitely touches on stuff I'm very unfamiliar with. :-\
"But I think it would not be active today."
*Erm...okay (seems like a contradiction). So what's the cause? ???
"We seem to find [crystalline ice] everywhere we look in the outer Solar System," he says. "That tells us that the process creating it is ubiquitous."
*More uranium and thorium decay throughout? Or an entirely different (yet "universal") cause?
--Cindy

*Earlier this evening I wrote the above. Okay, I admit this is a mighty big "what if"...

But what if Quaoar itself is a http://www.newmars.com/forums/viewtopic … 334]Kuiper Belt Contact Binary?

Nothing to that effect is suggested in that article. Quaoar isn't even mentioned in it.

No indications have been made in any article I've yet read about Quaoar that it might be a binary entity (if I recall correctly, and of course my memory could be faulty).

What if Quaoar's contact binary is much smaller, undetectable somehow...and yet that contact somehow stimulates enough heat or stimulates radioactive elements within it to continue being active? Is such a thing likely?

Just putting this out here. Probably I'm completely off base, but why not take a risk and ask?

Sheppard and Jewitt estimate that at least 10 to 20 percent of all large KBOs might be contact binaries with similarly-sized components.

--Cindy

Rxke · 2004-12-13 04:36:32

Impressive stuff.

I recall wild guesstimates about Q's size, because they are not sure about it's albedo. Has it been imaged yet to a certain errrr... useable resolution? Not that I recall... So it might very well be binary, or big enough to deflect other but very small debris out of their orbits? Causing impacts-> heat?

Palomar · 2004-12-13 08:49:47

*Hi Rik. Thanks for posting.

Regarding this quote again:

"We seem to find [crystalline ice] everywhere we look in the outer Solar System," he says. "That tells us that the process creating it is ubiquitous."

How likely is it (the radioactive decay elements of uranium and thorium aside for the moment, as pertaining to Quaoar itself) that some element within the solar wind plays a part in this process? The heliosheath extends beyond the KBO's yet, doesn't it? Solar particles travel a heck of a long way from the Sun. He says crystalline ice seems to be found throughout the entire Solar System. What else besides solar energy touches everything? Maybe some other things...but I'm simply "thinking aloud" again. :-\ And probably completely off-base.

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2023-02-11 19:37:50

Another surprise in Scientists find strange, ringed object way, way out in our solar system

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#1 2004-12-08 12:11:22

Re: Quaoar: Volcanic Activity?

#2 2004-12-09 06:32:53

Re: Quaoar: Volcanic Activity?

#3 2004-12-12 22:31:21

Re: Quaoar: Volcanic Activity?

#4 2004-12-12 23:19:20

Re: Quaoar: Volcanic Activity?

#5 2004-12-13 04:36:32

Re: Quaoar: Volcanic Activity?

#6 2004-12-13 08:49:47

Re: Quaoar: Volcanic Activity?

#7 2023-02-11 19:37:50

Re: Quaoar: Volcanic Activity?

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