Seminar – Eva Lilly (PSI) – A hundred sleeping beasts: the role of Centaur population in probing the Solar System’s past

Hybrid event – both in-person and via Teams – see details below.

Speaker: Eva Lilly (PSI)

Title: A hundred sleeping beasts: the role of Centaur population in probing the Solar System’s past

Abstract: The populations of small bodies in the Solar system have been traditionally perceived as distinct groups with separate physical attributes, surface composition and dynamical and physical evolution. The rapid development of our observational and computational resources in the past 40+ years, along with the introduction of all-sky surveys has radically changed this perception, blending the lines between comets and asteroids and highlighting dynamical pathways crossing the Solar system. I will briefly review the current constraints on the dynamical evolution of small bodies in the Solar system, and how the observations of these bodies have shaped our understanding of the formation and evolution of both our own Solar system, and other exoplanetary systems. In particular, I will discuss how Centaurs, a transient small body population scattered inward from the trans-Neptunian region, could offer insights into the planetary formation and deliver crucial information on the composition of the protosolar disk to our doorstep. I will highlight visible and NIR-spectroscopic observing campaigns aimed at cataloging Centaur surface properties and contextualizing them with thermo-dynamical models and laboratory experiments on analogs. And finally, I will highlight notable members of the Centaur population that expand our knowledge of what is possible in the small body dynamics, including active Centaurs and ringed objects like Chiron and Chariklo.