Whatever one's stance on the recent "demotion" of Pluto from planet to dwarf planet, the controversy has helped to make the public better aware that the solar system is populated with a lot more than the planets, their satellites, and the occasional comet or meteorite. The solar system is scattered with many smaller objects large enough to be tracked and numbered and sometimes named. Each category of object has its particular properties and stories to tell. Molecules have been identified on a number of these objects, and this bibliography has been expanded accordingly.

This is intended to be a representative but not exhaustive listing of planetoids with known molecules. For a descriptions of what's out there, see the Wikipedia articles on minor planets and Trans-Neptunian Objects. For more technical information, visit the Minor Planet Center. For a reasoned take on the Pluto controversy, I suggest the short article by David Jewitt and Jane Luu that can be accessed here.


OBJECT MOLECULES
(click for citations)
DISCOVERY CITATION NEWS
LINK
ASTEROIDS
24 Themis
H2O  organics
ref1   ref2
Elemente und Ephemeride der Themis
Astron. Nachr. 36, 341 (1853)
(Themis was discovered by Annibale de Gasparis.)
CENTAURS
Pholus
(5145)
CH3OH   H2O   organics   olivine 1992 AD
J. V. Scotti, D. L. Rabinowitz, and 11 co-workers, IAU Circ. 5434 (1992)
 
Chariklo
(10199)
H2O 1997 CU26
J. V. Scotti et al. (?)
 
SCATTERED DISK OBJECTS
Typhon
(42355)
H2O   silicates Discovery of a binary Centaur
K. S. Noll, H. F. Levinson, W. M. Grundy, and D. C. Stephens, Icarus 184:611-618 (2006)
 
TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECTS: KUIPER BELT OBJECTS
Pluto
(134340)
CH4   N2   CO Bulletin Number 421 - Preliminary results and ephemeris of the Lowell Observatory Object
E. C. Bower and F. L. Whipple, Lick Obs Bull 14:189-191 (1930)
Quaoar
(50000)
H2O   CH4   C2H6
N2?
Direct Measurement of the Size of the Large Kuiper Belt Object (50000) Quaoar (DPS)
M. E. Brown and C. A. Trujillo, AJ 127:2413-2417 (2004)
Orcus
(90482)
H2O   unk carbonaceous 2004 DW
M. E. Brown, D. L. Rabinowitz, C. A. Trujillo, R. Matson, M. Meyer, and R. Stoss, IAU Circ. 8291 (2004)
Eris
(136199)
CH4   H2O   N2   unk carbonaceous Discovery of a Planetary-sized Object in the Scattered Kuiper Belt
M. E. Brown, C. A. Trujillo, and D. L. Rabinowitz, ApJ 635:L97-L100 (2005)
 
Makemake
(136472)
CH4   C2H6 2005 FY9
M. E. Brown, C. A. Trujillo, and D. L. Rabinowitz, MPEC 2005-O42 (2005)
Haumea
(136108)
H2O 2003 EL61
M. E. Brown, C. A. Trujillo, and D. L. Rabinowitz, IAU Circ. 8577 (2005)
1999 TC36
(47171)
H2O   Tholins 1999 RV214, 1999 TC36, 1999 XX143, 1999 XY143
E. P. Rubenstein and L.-G. Strolger, MPEC 1999-Y19


Maintained by DE Woon
Updated 2 May 2010