 likely the chance for an encounter between member stars."
"This work is an important piece of evidence that the Sun formed in near
proximity to other stars," he adds.
Searching for Adopted Worlds
Kenyon and Bromley's simulations indicate that thousands or possibly
millions of alien Kuiper Belt Objects were stripped from the passing
However, none have yet been positively identified. Sedna is probably
homegrown, not captured. Among the known Kuiper Belt Objects, an icy
dubbed 2000 CR105 is the best candidate for capture given its unusually
elliptical and highly inclined orbit. But only the detection of objects
orbits inclined more than 40 degrees from the plane of the solar system
clinch the case for the presence of extrasolar planets in our backyard.
Kenyon and Bromley's next goal is to estimate the sky density of
objects so that they can make a survey to find such adopted worlds.
"In principle, large telescopes like the MMT Telescope [a joint
Smithsonian/University of Arizona observatory] can find them if they're
numerous enough," says Kenyon.
The calculations reported here were made using about 3,000 cpu-days of
computer time at the supercomputing center at the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics (CfA) is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. CfA
scientists, organized into six research divisions, study the origin,
evolution and ultimate fate of the universe.
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Phone: 617-495-7462 Fax: 617-495-7468
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