Identifying Interstellar Objects Trapped in the Solar System through Their Orbital Parameters

Abstract

The first interstellar object, `Oumuamua, was discovered in the Solar System by Pan-STARRS in 2017, allowing for a calibration of the abundance of interstellar objects of its size and an estimation of the subset of objects trapped by the Jupiter-Sun system. Photographing or visiting these trapped objects would allow for learning about the conditions in other planetary systems, saving the need to send interstellar probes. Here, we explore the orbital properties of captured interstellar objects in the Solar System using dynamical simulations of the Jupiter-Sun system and initial conditions drawn from the distribution of relative velocities of stars in the Solar neighborhood. We compare the resulting distributions of orbital elements to those of the most similar population of known asteroids, namely Centaurs, to search for a parameter space in which interstellar objects should dominate and therefore be identifiable solely by their orbits. We find that there should be thousands of `Oumuamua-size interstellar objects identifiable by Centaur-like orbits at high inclinations, assuming a number density of `Oumuamua-size interstellar objects of $\sim 10^{15}\mathrm{p}{\mathrm{c}}^{-3}$. We note eight known objects that may be of interstellar origin. Finally, we estimate that LSST will be able to detect several hundreds of these objects.

5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; accepted for publication in ApJL

References in corpus (14)

• Interstellar Interloper 1I/2017 U1: Observations from the NOT and WIYN Telescopes
• An Observational Upper Limit on the Interstellar Number Density of Asteroids and Comets
• Could Solar Radiation Pressure Explain 'Oumuamua's Peculiar Acceleration?
• Spectroscopy and thermal modelling of the first interstellar object 1I/2017 U1 'Oumuamua
• Interstellar Interlopers: Number Density and Origins of 'Oumuamua-like Objects
• 1I/2017 U1 (`Oumuamua) is Hot: Imaging, Spectroscopy and Search of Meteor Activity
• Col-OSSOS: Colors of the Interstellar Planetesimal 1I/`Oumuamua
• APO Time Resolved Color Photometry of Highly-Elongated Interstellar Object 1I/'Oumuamua
• The Feasibility and Benefits of In Situ Exploration of `Oumuamua-like objects
• An interstellar origin for Jupiter's retrograde co-orbital asteroid
• Relative Likelihood of Success in the Searches for Primitive versus Intelligent Extraterrestrial Life
• The size distribution of Near Earth Objects larger than 10 meters
• A Photometric, Spectroscopic, and Apsidal Motion Analysis of the F-type Eclipsing Binary BW Aquarii from K2 Campaign 3
• Six Strange Facts About`Oumuamua

Cited by in corpus (17)

• Galactic Tide and Local Stellar Perturbations on the Oort Cloud: Creation of Interstellar Comets
• No evidence for interstellar planetesimals trapped in the Solar System
• Capture of interstellar objects: a source of long-period comets
• Interstellar Now! Missions to and Sample Returns from Nearby Interstellar Objects
• Science opportunities with solar sailing smallsats
• A Fast Response Mission to Rendezvous with an Interstellar Object
• A halo of trapped interstellar matter surrounding the solar system
• Capture of interstellar objects I: the capture cross-section
• High-Drag Interstellar Objects And Galactic Dynamical Streams
• Comet C/2018 V1 (Machholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto): dislodged from the Oort Cloud or coming from interstellar space?
• Exploration of the outer solar system with fast and small sailcraft
• Observable Signatures of the Ejection Speed of Interstellar Objects from their Birth Systems
• Detecting Interstellar Objects Through Stellar Occultations
• A Real-Time Search for Interstellar Impacts on the Moon
• The Inferred Abundance of Interstellar Objects of Technological Origin
• Dynamical evolution of massless particles in star clusters with NBODY6++GPU-MASSLESS: II. The long-term evolution of free-floating comets
• Close Encounters of the Interstellar Kind: Examining the Capture of Interstellar Objects in Near Earth Orbit