The Vulcanoid Asteroids: Past, Present and Future

Martin Beech; Lowell Peltier

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12

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The Vulcanoid Asteroids: Past, Present and Future

Martin Beech, Lowell Peltier

Published in American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics (Volume 5, Issue 3)

Received: 10 July 2017 Accepted: 25 July 2017 Published: 25 August 2017

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Abstract

A review and discussion of both the historical and contemporaneous ideas pertaining to the putative population of Vulcanoid asteroids is presented. Current observations indicate that no objects larger than between 5 to 10 km in diameter reside in the orbital stability zone between 0.06 and 0.2 AU from the Sun, and that, at best, only a small population of Vulcanoid asteroids might exist at the present epoch. We review the physical processes (sublimation mass loss, evolution of the Sun’s luminosity, Poynting-Robertson drag, the Yarkovsky effect, the YORP effect, unipolar heating and collisions) that will control the lifetime against destruction of objects, either primordial or present-day, that chance to reside in the Vulcanoid region. It is argued that there are no overriding and/or absolute physical mechanisms that fully rule-out the present-day existence of a small Vulcanoid population, but we note that the gap between what the observations allow and what the theoretical models deem possible is closing rapidly.

Published in	American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics (Volume 5, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12
Page(s)	28-41
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Vulcanoid Asteroids, Orbital Evolution, Thermal Processing, Detection Methods

References

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Martin Beech, Lowell Peltier. (2017). The Vulcanoid Asteroids: Past, Present and Future. American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 5(3), 28-41. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12

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ACS Style

Martin Beech; Lowell Peltier. The Vulcanoid Asteroids: Past, Present and Future. Am. J. Astron. Astrophys. 2017, 5(3), 28-41. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12

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AMA Style

Martin Beech, Lowell Peltier. The Vulcanoid Asteroids: Past, Present and Future. Am J Astron Astrophys. 2017;5(3):28-41. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12,
  author = {Martin Beech and Lowell Peltier},
  title = {The Vulcanoid Asteroids: Past, Present and Future},
  journal = {American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics},
  volume = {5},
  number = {3},
  pages = {28-41},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajaa.20170503.12},
  abstract = {A review and discussion of both the historical and contemporaneous ideas pertaining to the putative population of Vulcanoid asteroids is presented. Current observations indicate that no objects larger than between 5 to 10 km in diameter reside in the orbital stability zone between 0.06 and 0.2 AU from the Sun, and that, at best, only a small population of Vulcanoid asteroids might exist at the present epoch. We review the physical processes (sublimation mass loss, evolution of the Sun’s luminosity, Poynting-Robertson drag, the Yarkovsky effect, the YORP effect, unipolar heating and collisions) that will control the lifetime against destruction of objects, either primordial or present-day, that chance to reside in the Vulcanoid region. It is argued that there are no overriding and/or absolute physical mechanisms that fully rule-out the present-day existence of a small Vulcanoid population, but we note that the gap between what the observations allow and what the theoretical models deem possible is closing rapidly.},
 year = {2017}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Vulcanoid Asteroids: Past, Present and Future
AU  - Martin Beech
AU  - Lowell Peltier
Y1  - 2017/08/25
PY  - 2017
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12
T2  - American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
JF  - American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
JO  - American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
SP  - 28
EP  - 41
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2376-4686
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12
AB  - A review and discussion of both the historical and contemporaneous ideas pertaining to the putative population of Vulcanoid asteroids is presented. Current observations indicate that no objects larger than between 5 to 10 km in diameter reside in the orbital stability zone between 0.06 and 0.2 AU from the Sun, and that, at best, only a small population of Vulcanoid asteroids might exist at the present epoch. We review the physical processes (sublimation mass loss, evolution of the Sun’s luminosity, Poynting-Robertson drag, the Yarkovsky effect, the YORP effect, unipolar heating and collisions) that will control the lifetime against destruction of objects, either primordial or present-day, that chance to reside in the Vulcanoid region. It is argued that there are no overriding and/or absolute physical mechanisms that fully rule-out the present-day existence of a small Vulcanoid population, but we note that the gap between what the observations allow and what the theoretical models deem possible is closing rapidly.
VL  - 5
IS  - 3
ER  -

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Author Information

Martin Beech

Campion College, The University of Regina, Regina, Canada
Lowell Peltier

Department of Physics, The University of Regina, Regina, Canada

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Martin Beech, Lowell Peltier. (2017). The Vulcanoid Asteroids: Past, Present and Future. American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 5(3), 28-41. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12

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ACS Style

Martin Beech; Lowell Peltier. The Vulcanoid Asteroids: Past, Present and Future. Am. J. Astron. Astrophys. 2017, 5(3), 28-41. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12

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AMA Style

Martin Beech, Lowell Peltier. The Vulcanoid Asteroids: Past, Present and Future. Am J Astron Astrophys. 2017;5(3):28-41. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12,
  author = {Martin Beech and Lowell Peltier},
  title = {The Vulcanoid Asteroids: Past, Present and Future},
  journal = {American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics},
  volume = {5},
  number = {3},
  pages = {28-41},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajaa.20170503.12},
  abstract = {A review and discussion of both the historical and contemporaneous ideas pertaining to the putative population of Vulcanoid asteroids is presented. Current observations indicate that no objects larger than between 5 to 10 km in diameter reside in the orbital stability zone between 0.06 and 0.2 AU from the Sun, and that, at best, only a small population of Vulcanoid asteroids might exist at the present epoch. We review the physical processes (sublimation mass loss, evolution of the Sun’s luminosity, Poynting-Robertson drag, the Yarkovsky effect, the YORP effect, unipolar heating and collisions) that will control the lifetime against destruction of objects, either primordial or present-day, that chance to reside in the Vulcanoid region. It is argued that there are no overriding and/or absolute physical mechanisms that fully rule-out the present-day existence of a small Vulcanoid population, but we note that the gap between what the observations allow and what the theoretical models deem possible is closing rapidly.},
 year = {2017}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Vulcanoid Asteroids: Past, Present and Future
AU  - Martin Beech
AU  - Lowell Peltier
Y1  - 2017/08/25
PY  - 2017
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12
T2  - American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
JF  - American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
JO  - American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
SP  - 28
EP  - 41
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2376-4686
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20170503.12
AB  - A review and discussion of both the historical and contemporaneous ideas pertaining to the putative population of Vulcanoid asteroids is presented. Current observations indicate that no objects larger than between 5 to 10 km in diameter reside in the orbital stability zone between 0.06 and 0.2 AU from the Sun, and that, at best, only a small population of Vulcanoid asteroids might exist at the present epoch. We review the physical processes (sublimation mass loss, evolution of the Sun’s luminosity, Poynting-Robertson drag, the Yarkovsky effect, the YORP effect, unipolar heating and collisions) that will control the lifetime against destruction of objects, either primordial or present-day, that chance to reside in the Vulcanoid region. It is argued that there are no overriding and/or absolute physical mechanisms that fully rule-out the present-day existence of a small Vulcanoid population, but we note that the gap between what the observations allow and what the theoretical models deem possible is closing rapidly.
VL  - 5
IS  - 3
ER  -

Copy | Download