Scattered Disc

Cosma / Communication / Knowledge / Realm / Physical / Universe / Solar System / Scattered Disc
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Scattered disc (or scattered disk) is a distant circumstellar disc in the Solar System that is sparsely populated by icy small solar system bodies, which are a subset of the broader family of trans-Neptunian objects. The scattered-disc objects (SDOs) have orbital eccentricities ranging as high as 0.8, inclinations as high as 40°, and perihelia greater than 30 astronomical units (4.5×109 km; 2.8×109 mi). These extreme orbits are thought to be the result of gravitational “scattering” by the gas giants, and the objects continue to be subject to perturbation by the planet Neptune.

Although the closest scattered-disc objects approach the Sun at about 30–35 AU, their orbits can extend well beyond 100 AU. This makes scattered objects among the coldest and most distant objects in the Solar System. The innermost portion of the scattered disc overlaps with a torus-shaped region of orbiting objects traditionally called the Kuiper belt, but its outer limits reach much farther away from the Sun and farther above and below the ecliptic than the Kuiper belt proper.

Because of its unstable nature, astronomers consider the scattered disc to be the place of origin for most periodic comets, with the centaurs, a population of icy bodies between Jupiter and Neptune, being the intermediate stage in an object’s migration from the disc to the inner Solar System. — Wikipedia

Scattered Disc Objects (COSMOS: The SAO Encyclopedia of Astronomy)

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Inspiration

Articles about the Scattered Disc (Big Think)

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Innovation

Paul Francis (YouTube Channel)

New Objects Beyond the Kuiper Belt (Susanna Kohler, American Astronomical Society)

Life Beyond Neptune: The Kuiper Belt & Scattered Disc (SciShow Space, YouTube Video)

Object Search (International Astronomical Union)

Scattered Disc (Wolfram Alpha)

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Preservation

History

Discovery of Scattered Disc (Wikipedia)

Library

Subject: Scattered Disc (WorldCat)

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Participation

Education

MERLOT: Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
OER Commons: Open Educational Resources

Community

Organization

Minor Planet Center (International Astronomical Union)
Asteroids & Remote Planets Section (British Astronomical Association)

News

Scattered Disc (Nova Research Highlights, American Astronomical Society)
Scattered Disc (Science Daily)
Scattered Disc (Phys.org)

Recent News from Phys.org …

The edge of the Milky Way's star-forming disk...
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Stellar flybys leave a permanent mark on newly...
on August 1, 2022 at 1:30 pm
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