34 citations · 206 across the 42 of their papers we have counts for
45 papers
Measuring Apsidal Clustering
Amir Siraj, Christopher F. Chyba, Scott Tremaine
The decade-long debate over the existence of apsidal clustering in the outer solar system is poised for reignition given the plethora of distant trans-Neptunian object (TNO) discov…
The Inner Kernel of the Classical Kuiper Belt
Amir Siraj, Christopher F. Chyba, Scott Tremaine
The `kernel' of the classical Kuiper belt was discovered by Petit et al. (2011) as a visual overdensity of objects with low ecliptic inclinations and eccentricities at semimajor ax…
Limits on Stellar Flybys in the Solar Birth Cluster
Amir Siraj, Christopher F. Chyba, Scott Tremaine
The orbits of small bodies in the outer solar system are particularly sensitive to gravitational perturbations, including stellar flybys. Stellar clusters, with low velocity disper…
Measuring the Mean Plane of the Distant Kuiper Belt
Amir Siraj, Christopher F. Chyba, Scott Tremaine
In the absence of any unseen planetary-mass bodies in the outer solar system, the mean plane of the distant Kuiper belt should be the same as the plane orthogonal to the angular mo…
NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Observations of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1)
Colin Orion Chandler, Pedro H. Bernardinelli, Mario Jurić +305
We report on the observation and measurement of astrometry, photometry, morphology, and activityof the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, also designated C/2025 N1 (ATLAS) with the NSF-…
Orbit of a Possible Planet X
Amir Siraj, Christopher F. Chyba, Scott Tremaine
The plausibility of an unseen planet in the outer solar system, and the expected orbit and mass of such a planet, have long been a topic of inquiry and debate. We calculate the lon…
Chemical Classification of Spherules Recovered From The Pacific Ocean Site of The CNEOS 2014-01-08 (IM1) Bolide
A. Loeb, S. B. Jacobsen, R. Tagle +28
We have conducted an extensive towed-magnetic-sled survey during the period of June 14-28, 2023, over the seafloor about 85 km north of Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, centered aro…
Are There Terrestrial Planets Lurking in the Outer Solar System?
Amir Siraj
Motivated by recent measurements of the free-floating planet mass function at terrestrial masses, we consider the possibility that the solar system may have captured a terrestrial…
Discovery of Spherules of Likely Extrasolar Composition in the Pacific Ocean Site of the CNEOS 2014-01-08 (IM1) Bolide
Abraham Loeb, Toby Adamson, Sophie Bergstrom +31
We have conducted an extensive towed-magnetic-sled survey during the period 14-28 June, 2023, over the seafloor centered around the calculated path of the bolide CNEOS 2014-01-08 (…
Close Encounters of the Interstellar Kind: Examining the Capture of Interstellar Objects in Near Earth Orbit
Diptajyoti Mukherjee, Amir Siraj, Hy Trac +1
Recent observations and detections of interstellar objects (ISOs) passing through the solar system have sparked a wave of interest into these objects. Although rare, these ISOs can…
Localizing The First Interstellar Meteor With Seismometer Data
Amir Siraj, Abraham Loeb
The first meter-scale interstellar meteor (IM1) was detected by US government sensors in 2014, identified as an interstellar object candidate in 2019, and confirmed by the Departme…
Expected Fragment Distribution from the First Interstellar Meteor CNEOS 2014-01-08
Amory Tillinghast-Raby, Abraham Loeb, Amir Siraj
In 2014, the fireball of the first interstellar meteor CNEOS 2014-01-08 (IM1) (Siraj & Loeb 2019), was detected off the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. A recently announced oce…
Physical Considerations for an Intercept Mission to a 1I/'Oumuamua-like Interstellar Object
Amir Siraj, Abraham Loeb, Amaya Moro-Martin +7
In this paper, we review some of the extant literature on the study of interstellar objects (ISOs). With the forthcoming Vera C. Rubin Telescope and Legacy Survey of Space and Time…
Interstellar Meteors are Outliers in Material Strength
Amir Siraj, Abraham Loeb
The first interstellar meteor larger than dust was detected by US government sensors in 2014, identified as an interstellar object candidate in 2019, and confirmed by the Departmen…
An Ocean Expedition by the Galileo Project to Retrieve Fragments of the First Large Interstellar Meteor CNEOS 2014-01-08
Amir Siraj, Abraham Loeb, Tim Gallaudet
The earliest confirmed interstellar object, `Oumuamua, was discovered in the Solar System by Pan-STARRS in 2017, allowing for a calibration of the abundance of interstellar objects…
New Constraints on the Composition and Initial Speed of CNEOS 2014-01-08
Amir Siraj, Abraham Loeb
We study the newly released light curve from the fireball of the first interstellar meteor CNEOS 2014-01-08. The measured velocity and three observed flares down to an altitude of…
The New Astronomical Frontier of Interstellar Objects
Amir Siraj, Abraham Loeb
The upcoming commencement of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space of Time (LSST) will greatly enhance the discovery rate of interstellar objects (ISOs). `Oumuamua…
Preliminary Evidence That Protoplanetary Disks Eject More Mass Than They Retain
Amir Siraj, Abraham Loeb
If interstellar objects originate in protoplanetary disks, they can be used to calibrate the fraction of mass that such disks eject. The discoveries of interstellar objects 1I/`Oum…
Intelligent Responses to Our Technological Signals Will Not Arrive In Fewer Than Three Millennia
Amir Siraj, Abraham Loeb
What is the chance we start a conversation with another civilization like our own? Our technological society produced signals that could be received by other extraterrestrial civil…
Reply to Desch et al. (2021) on "Breakup of a long-period comet as the origin of the dinosaur extinction"
Amir Siraj, Abraham Loeb
We reply to criticisms by Desch et al. (2021) regarding our Scientific Reports paper, "Breakup of a long-period comet as the origin of the dinosaur extinction." The background impa…
Explaining Neptune's Eccentricity
Amir Siraj, Abraham Loeb
Early migration damped Neptune's eccentricity. Here, we assume that the damped value was much smaller than the value observed today, and show that the closest flyby of $\sim 0.1 \;…
Eliminating the Remaining Window for Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter from the Dynamics of the Cold Kuiper Belt
Amir Siraj, Abraham Loeb
The nature of dark matter (DM) is unknown. One compelling possibility is DM being composed of primordial black holes (PBHs), given the tight limits on some types of elementary part…
The Mass Budget Necessary to Explain `Oumuamua as a Nitrogen Iceberg
Amir Siraj, Abraham Loeb
Recently, a nitrogen iceberg was proposed as a possible origin for the first interstellar object, 1I/2017 U1, also known as `Oumuamua. Here, we show that the mass budget in exo-Plu…
Breakup of a Long-Period Comet as the Origin of the Dinosaur Extinction
Amir Siraj, Abraham Loeb
The origin of the Chicxulub impactor, which is attributed as the cause of the K/T mass extinction event, is an unsolved puzzle. The background impact rates of main-belt asteroids a…