<div dir="ltr"><p class="content_title1"><a href="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/events/calendar/latest.html">http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/events/calendar/latest.html</a><br></p><p class="content_title1">TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16</p>
<p><b>12:30 pm:</b> <a href="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/itc/events/tue0809.htm">Institute for Theory and Computation (ITC) Seminar</a>.
"2003 EL61: The Most Interesting Kuiper Belt Object," Darin Ragozzine,
Calfornia Institute of Technology. Pratt Conference Room.</p>
<p><b>Abstract:</b> Among all the small bodies orbiting beyond Neptune,
2003 EL61 is one of the most remarkable. Its exceptionally fast
rotation - 4 hour period - stretches it into a highly tri-axial
ellipsoid: about as large as Pluto along its largest axis, but only a
third of Plutos mass. EL61 is also the largest fragment of the only
known collisional family in the outer solar system and pre-dates
families in the asteroid belt. Finally, the collision that spun up EL61
and produced the collisional family also created two massive moons.
With unexpectedly high eccentricities and inclinations, these
satellites have a rich dynamical history of both excitation and
extensive tidal evolution. I will discuss our dynamical understanding
of this most interesting Kuiper belt object. </p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Sarah T. Stewart-Mukhopadhyay<br>Asst. Professor of Planetary Science<br>Dept. of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Harvard University<br>Office 617.496.6462 Lab 617.496.5782 Fax 617.384.8249<br>
<a href="mailto:sstewart@eps.harvard.edu">sstewart@eps.harvard.edu</a><br><a href="http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~planets/sstewart/">http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~planets/sstewart/</a><br><br>Assistant:Marcie Steeves, <a href="mailto:steeves@eps.harvard.edu">steeves@eps.harvard.edu</a>, 617-495-2350<br>
</div>