by A comet discovered last year is offering scientists new insights into how these objects "turn on" and evolve, as it actually transitions out of the Centaur population and into the Jupiter Family of Comets (JFCs), according to a paper by Planetary Science Institute Research Scientist Jordan Steckloff.
Centaurs are icy bodies in unstable orbits between Jupiter and Neptune, and cross the orbits of one or more of the giant planets in their journey around the Sun; the gravity of these planets provide rapid dynamical evolution of the objects, and either eject them from the solar system entirely, or cause them to eventually evolve inward of Jupiter, to become Jupiter Family Comets.
Prior to this migration, Centaurs began as objects beyond the orbit of Neptune (trans-Neptunian Objects), whose gravitational tugs causes object to slowly leak into the Centaur population; this entire migration from beyond Neptune to JFC lasts a few million to a few tens of millions of years.
Continued...
Source
Centaurs are icy bodies in unstable orbits between Jupiter and Neptune, and cross the orbits of one or more of the giant planets in their journey around the Sun; the gravity of these planets provide rapid dynamical evolution of the objects, and either eject them from the solar system entirely, or cause them to eventually evolve inward of Jupiter, to become Jupiter Family Comets.
Prior to this migration, Centaurs began as objects beyond the orbit of Neptune (trans-Neptunian Objects), whose gravitational tugs causes object to slowly leak into the Centaur population; this entire migration from beyond Neptune to JFC lasts a few million to a few tens of millions of years.
Continued...
Source
