- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/609/A105
- Title:
- 280 one-opposition near Earth asteroids
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/609/A105
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- One-opposition near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) are growing in number, and they must be recovered to prevent loss and mismatch risk, and to improve their orbits, as they are likely to be too faint for detection in shallow surveys at future apparitions. We aimed to recover more than half of the one-opposition NEAs recommended for observations by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) using the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) in soft-override mode and some fractions of available D-nights. During about 130 hours in total between 2013 and 2016, we targeted 368 NEAs, among which 56 potentially Hazardous asteroids (PHAs), observing 437 INT Wide Field Camera (WFC) fields and recovering 280 NEAs (76% of all targets). Engaging a core team of about ten students and amateurs, we used the THELI, Astrometrica, and the Find_Orb software to identify all moving objects using the blink and track-and-stack method for the faintest targets and plotting the positional uncertainty ellipse from NEODyS. Results. Most targets and recovered objects had apparent magnitudes centered around V~22.8mag, with some becoming as faint as V~24mag. One hundred and three objects (representing 28% of all targets) were recovered by EURONEAR alone by Aug 2017. Orbital arcs were prolonged typically from a few weeks to a few years; our oldest recoveries reach 16 years. The O-C residuals for our 1,854 NEA astrometric positions show that most measurements cluster closely around the origin. In addition to the recovered NEAs, 22,000 positions of about 3,500 known minor planets and another 10,000 observations of about 1,500 unknown objects (mostly main-belt objects) were promptly reported to the MPC by our team. Four new NEAs were discovered serendipitously in the analyzed fields and were promptly secured with the INT and other telescopes, while two more NEAs were lost due to extremely fast motion and lack of rapid follow-up time. They increase the counting to nine NEAs discovered by the EURONEAR in 2014 and 2015. Targeted projects to recover one-opposition NEAs are efficient in override access, especially using at least two-meter class and preferably larger field telescopes located in good sites, which appear even more efficient than the existing surveys.
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Search Results
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/I/245
- Title:
- Orbital Elements of Minor Planets 1998
- Short Name:
- I/245
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The catalogue contains osculating elements of all permanently numbered minor planets as of November 25, 1996. The elements are given with respect to the ecliptic plane and equinox J2000 for the standard epoch JD2451000.5 = 1998 July 6.0 ET. The elements of (719) Albert which is considered to be lost are given for the epoch when the planet was discovered. The catalogue data, in general, correspond to those in "Ephemerides of Minor Planets for 1998", St.Petersburg, 1997 (in print). Along with these data the catalogue incorporates some connected information. (C) Copyright 1997 ITA RAS
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/I/233
- Title:
- Orbital Elements of Minor Planets 1997
- Short Name:
- I/233
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The catalogue contains osculating elements of all permanently numbered minor planets as of November 7, 1995. The elements are given with respect to the ecliptic plane and equinox J2000 for the standard epoch JD2450800.5 = 1997 December 18.0 ET. The elements of (719) Albert which is considered to be lost are given for the epoch when the planet was discovered. The catalogue data, in general, correspond to those published in "Ephemerides of Minor Planets for 1997", St.Petersburg, 1996. Along with these data the catalogue incorporates some connected information. (C) Copyright 1996 ITA RAS
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/159/133
- Title:
- Orbital elements of TNOs from the Dark Energy Survey
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/159/133
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The outer solar system contains a large number of small bodies (known as trans-Neptunian objects or TNOs) that exhibit diverse types of dynamical behavior. The classification of bodies in this distant region into dynamical classes-subpopulations that experience similar orbital evolution-aids in our understanding of the structure and formation of the solar system. In this work, we propose an updated dynamical classification scheme for the outer solar system. This approach includes the construction of a new (automated) method for identifying mean motion resonances. We apply this algorithm to the current data set of TNOs observed by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and present a working classification for all of the DES TNOs detected to date. Our classification scheme yields 1 inner centaur, 19 outer centaurs, 21 scattering disk objects, 47 detached TNOs, 48 securely resonant objects, 7 resonant candidates, and 97 classical belt objects. Among the scattering and detached objects, we detect 8 TNOs with semimajor axes greater than 150au.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/154/62
- Title:
- Orbital parameters of Kuiper Belt objects
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/154/62
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We measured the mean plane of the Kuiper Belt as a function of semimajor axis. For the classical Kuiper Belt as a whole (the nonresonant objects in the semimajor axis range 42-48au), we find a mean plane of inclination i_m_=1.8{deg}_-0.4{deg}_^+0.7{deg}^ and longitude of ascending node {Omega}_m_=77{deg}_-14{deg}_^+18{deg}^ (in the J2000 ecliptic-equinox coordinate system), in accord with theoretical expectations of the secular effects of the known planets. With finer semimajor axis bins, we detect a statistically significant warp in the mean plane near semimajor axes 40-42au. Linear secular theory predicts a warp near this location due to the {nu}_18_ nodal secular resonance; however, the measured mean plane for the 40.3-42au semimajor axis bin (just outside the {nu}_18_) is inclined ~13{deg} to the predicted plane, a nearly 3{sigma} discrepancy. For the more distant Kuiper Belt objects of semimajor axes in the range 50-80au, the expected mean plane is close to the invariable plane of the solar system, but the measured mean plane deviates greatly from this: it has inclination i_m_=9.1{deg}_-3.8{deg}_^+6.6{deg}^ and longitude of ascending node {Omega}_m_=227{deg}_-44{deg}_^+18{deg}^. We estimate this deviation from the expected mean plane to be statistically significant at the ~97%-99% confidence level. We discuss several possible explanations for this deviation, including the possibility that a relatively close-in (a<~100au), unseen, small planetary-mass object in the outer solar system is responsible for the warping.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/B/astorb
- Title:
- Orbits of Minor Planets
- Short Name:
- B/astorb
- Date:
- 07 Feb 2022 15:12:49
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- astorb is a database of osculating orbital elements and ephemeris uncertainties near the current epoch for all known asteroids in the Solar System. It has been hosted at Lowell Observatory since the 1990's and is actively curated to be automatically updated as new objects are discovered. Access to the database, additional documentation, additional data, and associated tools are available at asteroid.lowell.edu.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/236/18
- Title:
- OSSOS. VII. TNOs complete data release
- Short Name:
- J/ApJS/236/18
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS), a wide-field imaging program in 2013-2017 with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, surveyed 155deg^2^ of sky to depths of m_r_=24.1-25.2. We present 838 outer solar system discoveries that are entirely free of ephemeris bias. This increases the inventory of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) with accurately known orbits by nearly 50%. Each minor planet has 20-60 Gaia/Pan-STARRS-calibrated astrometric measurements made over 2-5 oppositions, which allows accurate classification of their orbits within the trans-Neptunian dynamical populations. The populations orbiting in mean-motion resonance with Neptune are key to understanding Neptune's early migration. Our 313 resonant TNOs, including 132 plutinos, triple the available characterized sample and include new occupancy of distant resonances out to semimajor axis a ~130au. OSSOS doubles the known population of the nonresonant Kuiper Belt, providing 436 TNOs in this region, all with exceptionally high-quality orbits of a uncertainty {sigma}_a_<=0.1%; they show that the belt exists from a>~37au, with a lower perihelion bound of 35au. We confirm the presence of a concentrated low-inclination a~44 au "kernel" population and a dynamically cold population extending beyond the 2:1 resonance. We finely quantify the survey's observational biases. Our survey simulator provides a straightforward way to impose these biases on models of the trans-Neptunian orbit distributions, allowing statistical comparison to the discoveries. The OSSOS TNOs, unprecedented in their orbital precision for the size of the sample, are ideal for testing concepts of the history of giant planet migration in the solar system.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/244/19
- Title:
- OSSOS. XII. Subaru/HSC obs. of 65 TNOs
- Short Name:
- J/ApJS/244/19
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present variability measurements and partial light curves of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) from a two-night pilot study using Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) on the Subaru Telescope (Maunakea, Hawaii, USA). Subaru's large aperture (8m) and HSC's large field of view (1.77deg^2^) allow us to obtain measurements of multiple objects with a range of magnitudes in each telescope pointing. We observed 65 objects with m_r_=22.6-25.5mag in just six pointings, allowing 20-24 visits of each pointing over the two nights. Our sample, all discovered in the recent Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS), spans absolute magnitudes of H_r_=6.2-10.8mag and thus investigates smaller objects than previous light curve projects have typically studied. Our data supports the existence of a correlation between the light curve amplitude and absolute magnitude seen in other works but does not support a correlation between the amplitude and orbital inclination. Our sample includes a number of objects from different dynamical populations within the trans-Neptunian region, but we do not find any relationship between variability and the dynamical class. We were only able to estimate periods for 12 objects in the sample and found that a longer baseline of observations is required for a reliable period analysis. We find that 31 objects (just under half of our sample) have variability of {Delta}_mag_ greater than 0.4mag during all of the observations; in smaller 1.25hr, 1.85hr, and 2.45hr windows, the median {Delta}_mag_ is 0.13, 0.16, and 0.19mag, respectively. The fact that variability on this scale is common for small TNOs has important implications for discovery surveys (such as OSSOS or the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope) and color measurements.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/152/70
- Title:
- Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS). I.
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/152/70
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We report the discovery, tracking, and detection circumstances for 85 trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) from the first 42deg^2^ of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey. This ongoing r-band solar system survey uses the 0.9deg^2^ field of view MegaPrime camera on the 3.6m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Our orbital elements for these TNOs are precise to a fractional semimajor axis uncertainty <0.1%. We achieve this precision in just two oppositions, as compared to the normal three to five oppositions, via a dense observing cadence and innovative astrometric technique. These discoveries are free of ephemeris bias, a first for large trans-Neptunian surveys. We also provide the necessary information to enable models of TNO orbital distributions to be tested against our TNO sample. We confirm the existence of a cold "kernel" of objects within the main cold classical Kuiper Belt and infer the existence of an extension of the "stirred" cold classical Kuiper Belt to at least several au beyond the 2:1 mean motion resonance with Neptune. We find that the population model of Petit et al. remains a plausible representation of the Kuiper Belt. The full survey, to be completed in 2017, will provide an exquisitely characterized sample of important resonant TNO populations, ideal for testing models of giant planet migration during the early history of the solar system.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/638/A84
- Title:
- PACS observations of large main-belt asteroids
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/638/A84
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Non-resolved thermal infrared observations enable studies of thermal and physical properties of asteroid surfaces provided the shape and rotational properties of the target are well determined via thermo-physical models. We used calibration-programme Herschel PACS data (70, 100, 160 microns) and state-of-the-art shape models derived from adaptive-optics observations and/or optical light curves to constrain for the first time the thermal inertia of twelve large main-belt asteroids. We also modelled previously well-characterised targets such as (1) Ceres or (4) Vesta as they constitute important benchmarks. Using the scale as a free parameter, most targets required a re-scaling ~5% consistent with what would be expected given the absolute calibration error bars. This constitutes a good cross-validation of the scaled shape models, although some targets required larger re-scaling to reproduce the IR data. We obtained low thermal inertias typical of large main belt asteroids studied before, which continues to give support to the notion that these surfaces are covered by fine-grained insulating regolith. Although the wavelengths at which PACS observed are longwards of the emission peak for main-belt asteroids, they proved to be extremely valuable to constrain size and thermal inertia and not too sensitive to surface roughness. Finally, we also propose a graphical approach to help examine how different values of the exponent used for scaling the thermal inertia as a function of heliocentric distance (i.e. temperature) affect our interpretation of the results.
