The Latitude Density Search utilized Hyper Suprime-Cam on Subaru Telescope to discover 60 moving objects in the outer Solar System, 54 of which have semi-major axes beyond 30 AU. The images were acquired in exceptional seeing (0.4") and reached a detection limit of m_r~=25.2. The two night arcs were used to calculate orbits which are poorly constrained, however, the distance and inclination are the parameters best constrained by short arcs and a reasonable determination can be made of which objects are cold classical TNOs and which are dynamically excited. We identify 10 objects as likely cold classical objects. We searched all of the detections for binary sources using a trailed Point Spread Function subtraction method, and identified one binary object with a separation of 0.34" and a secondary with 17% the brightness of the primary (2.0 magnitudes fainter). This is the brightest TNO in the sample, the previously known object 471165 (2010 HE79), which has a dynamically excited orbit. Because of the excellent seeing, this search was sensitive to binaries with 0.34" separation and a brightness of >=50% the primary brightness for 7 objects, including one cold classical. This gives an intrinsic binary fraction of ~17% (1 of 6) for the dynamically excited objects within our detection limits. The trailed point spread function subtraction method to identify binaries, fit the two components, and determine the sensitivity limits, used in the Latitude Density Search is a useful tool that could be more broadly applied to identify binary TNOs and track known binary TNO orbits.
We present results from a new pipeline custom-designed to search for faint, undiscovered solar system bodies using full-frame image data from the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. This pipeline removes the baseline flux of each pixel before aligning and co-adding frames along plausible orbital paths of interest. We first demonstrate the performance of the pipeline by recovering the signals of three trans-Neptunian objects -- 90377 Sedna ($V=20.64$), 2015 BP519 ($V=21.81$), and 2007 TG422 ($V=22.32$) -- both through shift-stacking along their known sky-projected paths a…
The Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) is currently the deepest wide- field survey in progress. The 8.2 m aperture of Subaru telescope is very powerful in detect- ing faint/small moving objects, including near-Earth objects, asteroids, centaurs and Tran- Neptunian objects (TNOs). However, the cadence and dithering pattern of the HSC-SSP are not designed for detecting moving objects, making it difficult to do so systematically. In this paper, we introduce a new pipeline for detecting moving objects (specifically TNOs) in a non-dedicated survey. The HSC-SSP catalogs are re-arra…
We present a pipeline for searching for trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) using data from the TESS mission, that includes a novel optimization-based framework for subtracting the effects of scattered light and pointing jitter. The background subtraction procedure we adopt, when combined with a moving average, allows one to see TNOs such as 90366 SEDNA, 2015 BP519 with the "naked eye." Moreover, this procedure also enabled us to identify two TNO candidates via direct visual observation (subsequently identified to be 2003 UZ413 and 2005 RR43). To automate the extraction of candidate TNOs, we apply …
We present the results of a search for outer Solar System objects in the full six years of data (Y6) from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). The DES covered a contiguous $5000$ deg$^2$ of the southern sky with $\approx 80,000$ $3$ deg$^2$ exposures in the $grizY$ optical/IR filters between 2013 and 2019. This search yielded 815 trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), one Centaur and one Oort cloud comet, with 461 objects reported for the first time in this paper. We present methodology that builds upon our previous search carried out on the first four years of data. Here, all DES images were reprocessed wi…
As the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) fulfills its primary mission it is executing an unprecedented all-sky survey with the potential to discover distant planets in our own solar system, as well as hundreds of Transneptunian Objects (TNOs) and Centaurs. We demonstrate that shift-and-stack techniques can be used to efficiently search the Full-Frame Image (FFI) data from the TESS mission and survey the entire sky for outer Solar System objects down to $\sim22^{nd}$ magnitude.
University College London（伦敦大学学院）；University of Michigan（密歇根大学）；University of Wisconsin-Madison（威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校）；Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory（托洛洛山美洲际天文台）；Universidade de São Paulo（圣保罗大学）；Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia - LIneA（电子天文跨机构实验室）；Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory（费米国家加速器实验室）；Instituto de Fisica Teorica UAM/CSIC（马德里自治大学/西班牙国家研究委员会理论物理研究所）；Universidad Autonoma de Madrid（马德里自治大学）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）；Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris（巴黎天体物理研究所）；Sorbonne Universités（索邦大学）；UPMC Univ Paris 06（巴黎第六大学（皮埃尔与玛丽·居里大学））
In this paper we investigate how implementing machine learning could improve the efficiency of the search for Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) within Dark Energy Survey (DES) data when used alongside orbit fitting. The discovery of multiple TNOs that appear to show a similarity in their orbital parameters has led to the suggestion that one or more undetected planets, an as yet undiscovered "Planet 9", may be present in the outer Solar System. DES is well placed to detect such a planet and has already been used to discover many other TNOs. Here, we perform tests on eight different supervised mach…
Combined JWST and HST Deep Imaging to Characterize the Smallest Known Trans-Neptunian Objects
Northern Arizona University（北亚利桑那大学）；University of Victoria（维多利亚大学）；National Research Council of Canada, Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre（加拿大国家研究委员会赫茨伯格天文学与天体物理研究中心）；Space Telescope Science Institute（太空望远镜科学研究所）；University of Pennsylvania（宾夕法尼亚大学）；Center for Astrophysics — Harvard & Smithsonian（哈佛-史密森尼天体物理中心）；University of Michigan（密歇根大学）；Universidad de Chile（智利大学）
Several different classes of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) have been identified based on their optical and near-infrared colors. As part of the Colours of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey, we have obtained $g$, $r$, and $z$ band photometry of 26 TNOs using Subaru and Gemini Observatories. Previous color surveys have not utilized $z$ band reflectance, and the inclusion of this band reveals significant surface reflectance variations between sub-populations. The colors of TNOs in $g-r$ and $r-z$ show obvious structure, and appear consistent with the previously measured bi-modality in $g-r$.…
Both Centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are minor bodies found in the outer Solar System. Centaurs are a transient population that moves between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune, and they probably diffused out of the TNOs. TNOs move mainly beyond Neptune. Some of these objects display episodic cometary behaviour; a few percent of them are known to host binary companions. Here, we study the light-curves of two Centaurs -2060 Chiron (1977 UB) and 10199 Chariklo (1997 CU26)- and three TNOs -38628 Huya (2000 EB173), 28978 Ixion (2001 KX76), and 90482 Orcus (2004 DW)- and the colours of t…
"TNOs are Cool": A Survey of the Transneptunian Region IV. Size/albedo characterization of 15 scattered disk and detached objects observed with Herschel Space Observatory-PACS
We present a method to identify distant solar system objects in long-term wide-field asteroid survey data, and conduct a search for them in the Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) image data acquired from 2010 to mid-2015. We demonstrate that our method is able to find multi-opposition orbital links, and we present the resulting orbital distributions which consist of 154 Centaurs, 255 classical Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), 121 resonant TNOs, 89 Scattered Disc Objects (SDOs) and 10 comets. Our results show more than half of these are new discoveries, including a newly discovered 19th magnitude TNO. Our identi…
We report the rotational lightcurves of 21 trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) in Neptune's 2:1 mean motion resonance obtained with the 6.5 m Magellan-Baade telescope and the 4.3 m Lowell Discovery Telescope. The main survey's goal is to find objects displaying a large lightcurve amplitude which is indicative of contact binaries or highly elongated objects. In our sample, two 2:1 resonant TNOs showed a significant short-term lightcurve amplitude: 2002 VD$_{130}$ and (531074) 2012 DX$_{98}$. The full lightcurve of 2012 DX$_{98}$ infers a periodicity of 20.80$\pm$0.06h and amplitude of 0.56$\pm$0.03m…
The trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are small Solar System bodies at large distances from the Sun. As such, their physical properties are difficult to measure. Accurate determination of their physical parameters is essential to model and theorize the actual composition and distribution of the population, and to improve our understanding of the formation and evolution of the Solar System. The objective of this work is to construct phase curves in two filters, $V$ and $R$, of a large TNO sample obtaining absolute magnitudes ($H$) and phase coefficients ($β$), and study possible relations between …
Transneptunian objects (TNOs) are a source of invaluable information to access the history and evolution of the outer solar system. However, observing these faint objects is a difficult task. As a consequence, important properties such as size and albedo are known for only a small fraction of them. Now, with the results from deep sky surveys and the Gaia space mission, a new exciting era is within reach as accurate predictions of stellar occultations by numerous distant small solar system bodies become available. From them, diameters with kilometer accuracies can be determined. Albedos, in tur…
Probing close-in satellites of Trans-Neptunian Objects through thermal and direct size measurements
Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, IAA-CSIC（安达卢西亚天体物理研究所）；Deutsches Zentrum für Astrophysik (DZA)（德国天体物理学中心）；Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik（马克斯·普朗克地外物理学研究所）
