2006 SQ372: A Likely Long-Period Comet from the Inner Oort Cloud

TL;DR

The paper reports the discovery of a distant minor planet, 2006 SQ372, likely originating from the inner Oort Cloud, and analyzes its orbit and origin through dynamical simulations.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis linking 2006 SQ372 to the inner Oort Cloud and estimates its production rate compared to the scattered disk.

Findings

2006 SQ372 is likely the most distant long-period comet discovered.

The Oort Cloud produces 16 times more objects like SQ372 than the scattered disk.

2006 SQ372 and 2000 OO67 share similar dynamical histories, unaffected by the Jupiter-Saturn Barrier.

Abstract

We report the discovery of a minor planet (2006 SQ372) on an orbit with a perihelion of 24 AU and a semimajor axis of 796 AU. Dynamical simulations show that this is a transient orbit and is unstable on a timescale of 200 Myrs. Falling near the upper semimajor axis range of the scattered disk and the lower semimajor axis range of the Oort Cloud, previous membership in either class is possible. By modeling the production of similar orbits from the Oort Cloud as well as from the scattered disk, we find that the Oort Cloud produces 16 times as many objects on SQ372-like orbits as the scattered disk. Given this result, we believe this to be the most distant long-period comet ever discovered. Furthermore, our simulation results also indicate that 2000 OO67 has had a similar dynamical history. Unaffected by the "Jupiter-Saturn Barrier," these two objects are most likely long-period comets from the inner Oort Cloud.