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Astrometry and occultation predictions to Trans-Neptunian and Centaur objects observed within the Dark Energy Survey

Astrometry and occultation predictions to Trans-Neptunian and Centaur objects observed within the Dark Energy Survey
Astrometry and occultation predictions to Trans-Neptunian and Centaur objects observed within the Dark Energy Survey

Trans-Neptunian 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 turn, can be obtained from diameters and absolute magnitudes. We use observations from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) from 2012 November until 2016 February, amounting to 4,292,847 charge-coupled device (CCD) frames. We searched them for all known small solar system bodies and recovered a total of 202 TNOs and Centaurs, 63 of which have been discovered by the DES collaboration as of the date of submission. Their positions were determined using the Gaia Data Release 2 as reference and their orbits were refined. Stellar occultations were then predicted using these refined orbits plus stellar positions from Gaia. These predictions are maintained, and updated, in a dedicated web service. The techniques developed here are also part of an ambitious preparation to use the data from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), that expects to obtain accurate positions and multifilter photometry for tens of thousands of TNOs.

astrometry, ephemerides, Kuiper belt: general, occultations, surveys
0004-6256
Banda-Huarca, M. V.
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Camargo, J. I.B.
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Desmars, J.
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Fosalba, P.
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Frieman, J.
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Gschwend, J.
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Smith, M.
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DES Collaboration
Banda-Huarca, M. V.
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Camargo, J. I.B.
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Desmars, J.
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Vieira-Martins, R.
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Assafin, M.
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Costa, L. N.Da
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Bernstein, G. M.
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Carrasco Kind, M.
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Drlica-Wagner, A.
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Gysi, M. M.
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Maia, M. A.G.
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Gerdes, D. W.
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Hamilton, S.
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Wester, W.
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Bertin, E.
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Brooks, D.
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Carnero Rosell, A.
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Carretero, J.
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Davis, C.
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Vicente, J. De
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García-Bellido, J.
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Gschwend, J.
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Gutierrez, G.
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Hartley, W. G.
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Miquel, R.
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Smith, M.
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Smith, M. , DES Collaboration (2019) Astrometry and occultation predictions to Trans-Neptunian and Centaur objects observed within the Dark Energy Survey. Astronomical Journal, 157 (3), [120]. (doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aafb37).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Trans-Neptunian 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 turn, can be obtained from diameters and absolute magnitudes. We use observations from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) from 2012 November until 2016 February, amounting to 4,292,847 charge-coupled device (CCD) frames. We searched them for all known small solar system bodies and recovered a total of 202 TNOs and Centaurs, 63 of which have been discovered by the DES collaboration as of the date of submission. Their positions were determined using the Gaia Data Release 2 as reference and their orbits were refined. Stellar occultations were then predicted using these refined orbits plus stellar positions from Gaia. These predictions are maintained, and updated, in a dedicated web service. The techniques developed here are also part of an ambitious preparation to use the data from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), that expects to obtain accurate positions and multifilter photometry for tens of thousands of TNOs.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 28 December 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 15 February 2019
Keywords: astrometry, ephemerides, Kuiper belt: general, occultations, surveys

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 431875
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/431875
ISSN: 0004-6256
PURE UUID: 92163285-012b-4131-82a0-a908173a0bfb
ORCID for M. Smith: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3321-1432

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 20 Jun 2019 16:30
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:29

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Contributors

Author: M. V. Banda-Huarca
Author: J. I.B. Camargo
Author: J. Desmars
Author: R. L.C. Ogando
Author: R. Vieira-Martins
Author: M. Assafin
Author: L. N.Da Costa
Author: G. M. Bernstein
Author: M. Carrasco Kind
Author: A. Drlica-Wagner
Author: R. Gomes
Author: M. M. Gysi
Author: F. Braga-Ribas
Author: M. A.G. Maia
Author: D. W. Gerdes
Author: S. Hamilton
Author: W. Wester
Author: T. M.C. Abbott
Author: F. B. Abdalla
Author: S. Allam
Author: S. Avila
Author: E. Bertin
Author: D. Brooks
Author: E. Buckley-Geer
Author: D. L. Burke
Author: A. Carnero Rosell
Author: J. Carretero
Author: C. E. Cunha
Author: C. Davis
Author: J. De Vicente
Author: H. T. Diehl
Author: P. Doel
Author: P. Fosalba
Author: J. Frieman
Author: J. García-Bellido
Author: E. Gaztanaga
Author: D. Gruen
Author: R. A. Gruendl
Author: J. Gschwend
Author: G. Gutierrez
Author: W. G. Hartley
Author: D. L. Hollowood
Author: K. Honscheid
Author: D. J. James
Author: K. Kuehn
Author: N. Kuropatkin
Author: F. Menanteau
Author: C. J. Miller
Author: R. Miquel
Author: M. Smith ORCID iD
Corporate Author: DES Collaboration

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