Chinese Journal of Nature ›› 2009, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (1): 33-38.

• Invited Special Paper • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Origin and Evolution of SKBOs

ANG Jian-jun, NIE Qing-xiang, LIU Feng-shou   

  1. ①③Master, ②Professor, College of Physics and Electronics, Shandong Normal University, Jinan  250014, China
  • Received:2008-08-12 Revised:2008-08-12 Online:2009-02-20 Published:2009-02-20

Abstract: In the 1990s, one of the greatest astronomical discoveries is Kuiper Belt. Scattered Kuiper Belt Objects (SKBOs)lying out of the main Kuiper Belt, have attracted people’s attention for their orbits with greater eccentricity and higher inclination which are similar to comets. The origin and evolution of these objects and relatives with Oort cloud have become a quite theoretical and practical debate presently. The orbital evolution simulations of this paper show that most of the known SKBOs are quite stable, which probably form in the original nebula of this area; most of the less stable and instable objects are from the outer scattered disk, which may extend into Oort cloud, and quite a few members come from the interior of the solar system; at least 60 million years in the future, there will be no SKBOs close to the sun to become comets.

Key words: Kuiper belt, SKBOs, origin, evolution