The Youthful Appearance of the 2003 EL61 Collisional Family

TL;DR

This study shows that the 2003 EL61 collisional family has high-albedo, icy surfaces with flat phase curves, indicating recent resurfacing or depletion of darkening agents, and provides new rotational data for one member.

Contribution

It presents new phase curve observations of the 2003 EL61 family and analyzes their surface properties and resurfacing history, highlighting their unique icy, bright surfaces.

Findings

Family members have high albedo, icy surfaces.

Flat phase curves suggest recent resurfacing or depletion of darkening agents.

Rotation period of 2003 OP32 is approximately 4.845 hours.

Abstract

We present new solar phase curve observations of the 2003 EL61 collisional family showing that all the members have light-scattering properties similar to the bright icy satellites and dwarf planets. Compared to other Kuiper Belt objects, the five family members we observe (2003 EL61, 2002 TX300, 2003 OP32, 2005 RR43, and 1995 SM55) have conspicuously neutral color (V-I = 0.6-0.8 mag) and flat phase curves at small phase angles (phase coefficients of 0.0 - 0.1 mag deg-1). Comparing the phase curves we observe for other icy Kuiper Belt objects to the phase curves of icy satellites, we find that the flat phase curves of the 2003 EL61 family are an indication they have high albedo surfaces coated with fresh ice in the last ~100 Myr. We examine possible resurfacing processes and find none that are plausible. To avoid the influence of cosmic radiation that darkens and reddens most icy surfaces on times scales > ~100 Myr, the family members must be unusually depleted in carbon, or else the collision that created the family occurred so recently that the parent body and fragments have not had time to darken. We also find a rotation period of 4.845 (+/- 0.003) h with amplitude 0.26 (+/- 0.04) mags for 2003 OP32.