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Thermal evolution of trans-Neptunian objects through observations of Centaurs with JWST

Nature Astronomy volume 9, pages 245–251 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Centaurs are small bodies orbiting between Jupiter and Neptune and behave as an intermediate population between trans-Neptunian-belt objects and Jupiter-family comets. As such, their surface composition and evolutionary processes are key to understanding the Solar System’s history. However, the mechanisms driving their transformation and the impact of thermal processing on their surfaces remain open questions. Here we examined the surface properties of five Centaurs using the James Webb Space Telescope near-infrared spectrograph reflectance spectra (0.6–5.3 μm). They exhibit considerable diversity in surface composition. Our analysis indicates that Centaurs can be split into two main categories, which is also observed for trans-Neptunian objects: one group has surfaces composed of refractory materials with some water ice, whereas the other is dominated by carbon-based materials. Additionally, two of the five objects have primarily refractory surfaces with minimal volatiles, suggesting a high concentration of primitive, comet-like dust. We suggest that the observed Centaur surfaces reflect their transitional states, as they are shifting from being ice-rich bodies to progressively becoming more dominated by non-volatile materials as they approach the Sun. Such thermal processing may have changed the surface properties of other similar Solar System bodies, like comets, Jupiter trojans and D-type asteroids.

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Fig. 1: Comparison of spectra of Centaurs and TNOs.
Fig. 2: Principal component analysis.
Fig. 3: Surface compositional models.
Fig. 4: Comparison of spectra of shallow-type Centaurs and comets.

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Data availability

The JWST data used in this analysis are publicly available from the STScI MAST Archive (https://mast.stsci.edu/portal/Mashup/Clients/Mast/Portal.html).

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Acknowledgements

The DiSCo-TNOs team would like to thank W. Eck and A. Henry of the Space Telescope Science Institute for their help in preparing the observations for execution. This work is based on observations made with the NASA/ESA/CSA JWST under the GO-1 programme 2418. Support for this programme was provided by NASA through a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute. The data were obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-03127 for JWST. J.L. acknowledges support from the Agencia Estatal de Investigación del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Grant ‘Hydrated Minerals and Organic Compounds in Primitive Asteroids’, Ref. PID2020-120464GB-100). N.P. acknowledges funding from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Research Grant Nos. UIDB/04434/2020 and UIDP/04434/2020). R.B. and E.H. acknowledge support from CNES-France (JWST mission). A.G.-L. received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 802699). J.A.S. acknowledges Lowell Observatory and Northern Arizona University, both in Flagstaff, AZ, for support during his sabbatical tenure there.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), La Laguna, Spain

    Javier Licandro & Vania Lorenzi

  2. Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, Spain

    Javier Licandro

  3. Florida Space Institute, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

    Noemí Pinilla-Alonso, Mário N. De Prá, Ana Carolina de Souza Feliciano, Charles A. Schambeau & Brittany Harvison

  4. Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Bryan J. Holler & John A. Stansberry

  5. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio, UBA-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Mario Melita

  6. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas, UNLP, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Mario Melita

  7. Instituto de Tecnología e Ingeniería, UNAHUR, Villa Tesei, Argentina

    Mario Melita

  8. Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, Orsay, France

    Rosario Brunetto & Elsa Hénault

  9. Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon: Terre, Planètes, Environnement, UMR5276 CNRS, UCBL, ENSL, Villeurbanne, France

    Aurélie Guilbert-Lepoutre

  10. Fundación Galileo Galilei-INAF, Tenerife, Spain

    Vania Lorenzi

  11. Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

    John A. Stansberry, Lucas McClure & Joshua P. Emery

  12. Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

    John A. Stansberry

  13. Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

    Charles A. Schambeau, Yvonne J. Pendleton & Dale P. Cruikshank

  14. Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Garching, Germany

    Thomas Müller

  15. Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Departamento de Física, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Nuno Peixinho

  16. School of Physical and Chemical Sciences – Te Kura Matū, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Michele T. Bannister

  17. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA

    Ian Wong

  18. American University, Washington DC, USA

    Ian Wong

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  1. Javier Licandro
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Contributions

J.L., N.P.-A., V.L., M.N.D.P., B.J.H. and J.A.S. designed the observational programme. N.P.-A., M.N.D.P., R.B., J.L., Y.J.P., D.P.C., B.J.H., T.M., J.A.S. and J.P.E. conceived the science goals of DiSCo. J.L. and N.P.-A. conceived in particular the goals related to Centaurs. B.J.H., N.P.-A., I.W., A.C.d.S.F., M.N.D.P. and C.A.S. reduced and validated the data. J.L., N.P.-A., E.H., R.B., M.N.D.P., A.C.d.S.F., J.A.S. and T.M. performed the band identification and spectral characterization. R.B., M.N.D.P. and N.P.-A. performed the clustering and the study of the band areas. J.L., R.B., N.P.-A. and A.G.-L. elaborated on and proposed the scenario for interpreting the results. J.L. and N.P.-A. drafted the paper. All authors were involved in the discussion of the results and the finalization of the paper.

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Correspondence to Javier Licandro.

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Nature Astronomy thanks Theodore Kareta and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Reflectance spectra of the five Centaurs presented in this paper.

Reflectance spectra of the five Centaurs presented in this paper shifted in the y-axis by 1.0. In red is represented the Centaur with a Cliff-type spectrum defined in5, in blue those with a Bowl-type spectrum, and in green the two ones that belong to a spectral class that is unique between the Centaurs. Error bars (computed as the standard deviation of the four dithered exposures of each target) are shown in light-grey.

Extended Data Table 1 Description of the observations
Full size table
Extended Data Table 2 Optical constants used for the models in this work
Full size table
Extended Data Table 3 Properties of the materials used in the models
Full size table

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Licandro, J., Pinilla-Alonso, N., Holler, B.J. et al. Thermal evolution of trans-Neptunian objects through observations of Centaurs with JWST. Nat Astron 9, 245–251 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02417-2

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