Small bodies in the thermal infrared - Investigating the thermal properties of near-Earth and main belt asteroids, Centaurs and trans-Neptunian object; The 'Small Bodies: Near and Far' database of thermal infrared small body observations
Satellites of transneptunian dwarf planets - Determination of satellite orbit from Hubble Space Telescope measurements (Gonggong, Makemake); investigation of the tidal interaction between the primary and the satellite
Morphology, composition and activity of comets - Surface properties, gas and dust production and geological features on comets (67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko) using remote and in-situ data (Rosetta)
Rotational properties of asteroids - Light curves and rotation periods for large number of asteroids from space surveys (Kepler/K2, TESS) and precise asteroid light curves for main belt asteroids for light curve inversion and shape reconstruction (Piszkéstető telescopes)
Stellar occultations of Centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects - observations of occultations events from the Piszkéstető Mountain Observatory; synergy of occultation and thermal infrared measurements
Planetology - Chemical and geological processes on Mars and in the interior of planetesimals
Group members
Csaba Kiss - group leader, research advisor - thermal infrared measurements, asteroid rotation, dwarf planets, synergy of occultation and thermal emission models
László Kiss - research professor, director general, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences - asteroid rotation (K2 & TESS)
Imre Tóth - research advisor - comets, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
András Pál - senior research fellow - K2 and TESS data reduction, occultations
Pál, András; Szakáts, Róbert; Kiss, Csaba; Bódi, Attila; Bognár, Zsófia; Kalup, Csilla; Kiss, László L.; Marton, Gábor; Molnár, László; Plachy, Emese; Sárneczky, Krisztián; Szabó, Gyula M.; Szabó, Róbert, 2020, Solar System Objects Observed with TESS—First Data Release: Bright Main-belt and Trojan Asteroids from the Southern Survey, The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Volume 247, Issue 1, id.26 (arXiv:2001.05822)
Szakáts, Róbert; Müller, Thomas; Alí-Lagoa, Víctor; Marton, Gábor; Farkas-Takács, Anikó; Bányai, Evelin; Kiss, Csaba, 2020, Small Bodies: Near and Far Database for thermal infrared observations of small bodies in the Solar System, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Volume 635, id.A54, 14 pp. (arXiv:2001.01482)
Farkas-Takács, A.; Kiss, Cs.; Vilenius, E.; Marton, G.; Müller, T. G.; Mommert, M.; Stansberry, J.; Lellouch, E.; Lacerda, P.; Pál, A., 2020, TNOs are Cool! A Survey of the transneptunian Region XV. Physical characteristics of 23 resonant transneptunian and scattered disk objects, accepted for publication in A&A (arXiv:2002.12712)
Cambianica, P.; Fulle, M.; Cremonese, G.; ...; Toth, I.; et al., 2020, Time evolution of dust deposits in the Hapi region of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Volume 636, id.A91, 13 pp.
Vernazza, P.; Jorda, L.; Ševeček, P.; ...; Szakats, R.; et al., 2020, A basin-free spherical shape as an outcome of a giant impact on asteroid Hygiea, Nature Astronomy, Volume 4, p. 136-141
Podlewska-Gaca, E.; Marciniak, A.; Alí-Lagoa, V.; Bartczak, P.; Müller, T. G.; Szakáts, R.; Duffard, R.; Molnár, L.; Pál, A.; Butkiewicz-Bąk, M.; Dudziński, G.; Dziadura, K.; Antonini, P.; Asenjo, V.; Audejean, M.; Benkhaldoun, Z.; Behrend, R.; Bernasconi, L.; Bosch, J. M.; Chapman, A. Dintinjana, B.; Farkas, A.; et al., 2020, accepted for publication in A&A (arXiv:2001.07030)
Projects and Funding
K-125015 (NKFIH) - Small body transport and the initial conditions for planetesimal formation (2017-2021): The asteroid belt, the interplanetary dust cloud and the small bodies in the trans-Neptunian region are the leftovers of a once much more massive debris disk that formed the planets of our Solar system about 4.5 billion years ago. Material and bodies that we see at a certain location in the Solar system have not necessarily formed at the same heliocentric distance (or, in more general, at the same orbit) where we can see them today. Rearrangements in the early Solar system – especially due to the dynamical interaction of the giant plantes – has significantly altered the original material distribution. E.g. the inward migration of Jupiter may have captured Jovian Trojan asteroids into their 1:1 mean motion resonances and the likely outward migration of Neptune scattered off most of the objects in the then Kuiper belt, directing them into the Oort cloud, or into the inner Solar system. While such violent events do not happen today, there is still material transport between the debris zones of the very tenuous, present day Solar System debris disk. E.g. the scattered disk and some resonances in the Kuiper belt feed the Centaur population with new objects through dynamical instabilities. With time, Centaurs migrate into the inner Solar system and become Jupiter family comets that usually disintegrate after several revolutions around the Sun. In this way they replenish the dust in the interplanetary dust cloud – this dust would otherwise be removed in a few thousand years by radiation forces. In this application we propose to study the main material transport routes in the early Solar system and today. The results are going to provide clues to the understanding of dynamical and physical processes in early times and will identify the main processes that shape our debris disk nowadays. Apart from dynamical simulations this can only be studied by comparing the physical properties of objects and material at different locations that should reflect the properties of the originating bodies and the ambient conditions at the initial locations. We propose to perform this goal by selecting and studying some relevant group of small bodies that are thought to be the probes of these processes. Transport processes and initial conditions of planetesimal formation are also the key inputs for the study of exosolar debris disk systems that we can typically observe at early stages of their evolution, in contrast to our ∼4.5 Gyr old Solar system.