2021 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Towards an absolute chronology of the outer Solar System
| Project/Area Number |
21J22854
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Institute of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
WONG WAI EMILY 東京工業大学, 理学院, 特別研究員(DC1)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2021-04-28 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | Cratering chronology / Planet migration / Impact flux / Outer solar system / Icy satellites / Impact probability |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
We constructed a model cratering chronology for the outer solar system based on dynamical simulations of giant planet migration. We studied cratering by heliocentric planetesimals and irregular satellites, and then applied our model chronology to calculate the surface ages of the icy regular satellites of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. The results are published in a peer-reviewed journal, Icarus.
This study substantially improved upon the earlier age estimations using the lunar cratering chronology and is the first update of the crater chronology in the outer solar system in two decades.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
Before the start of the fellowship, many trial simulations had been run to test the success-rate, to find the suitable initial condition and the optimum parameter setting of the simulations. So a few months into the 2021, we already acquired the suitable data to analysis and draw science conclusion.
Despite the COVID situation, which the institute and laboratory had been closed for months. Our researches rely mostly on computer simulations, which are ,fortunately, less likely to be affected by remote working.
Most of the overseas visits are planned in later R4 or R5. So the overseas collaboration are not (yet) very much postponed.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In Reiwa 4, the focus will be on the Saturnian system’s icy moons, where more remote surveying images exist thanks to the Cassini space mission. We are also considering if more detailed simulations of the impact ejecta are required to model better the size distribution, velocity distribution, spray and evaporation of impact ejecta, and the mass loss of the target moons during the bombardment.
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Research Products
(4 results)
