AN UPPER BOUND TO THE SPACE DENSITY OF INTERSTELLAR COMETS

Journal Article · Sun May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/141/5/155· OSTI ID:21583138

Jura, M ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States)

Two well-studied white dwarfs with helium-dominated atmospheres (DBs) each possess less hydrogen than carried by a single average-mass comet. Plausibly, the wind rates from these stars are low enough that most accreted hydrogen remains with the star. If so, and presuming their nominal effective temperatures, then these DBs have faced minimal impact by interstellar comets during their 50 Myr cooling age; interstellar iceballs with radii between 10 m and 2 km contain less than 1% of all interstellar oxygen. This analysis suggests that most stars do not produce comets at the rate predicted by 'optimistic' scenarios for the formation of the Oort Cloud.

• OSTI ID: 21583138
• Journal Information: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Vol. 141, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-6256/141/5/155; ISSN 1538-3881
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
COMETS
HELIUM
HYDROGEN
INTERSTELLAR SPACE
OXYGEN
STELLAR ATMOSPHERES
WHITE DWARF STARS
ATMOSPHERES
DWARF STARS
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
GASES
NONMETALS
RARE GASES
SPACE
STARS