- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/584/A96
- Title:
- Observations of 50 TNOs and Centaurs
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/584/A96
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The prediction of stellar occultations by trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and Centaurs is a difficult challenge that requires accuracy both in the occulted star position and in the object ephemeris. Until now, the most used method of prediction, involving dozens of TNOs/Centaurs, has been to consider a constant offset for the right ascension and for the declination with respect to a reference ephemeris, usually the latest public version. This offset is determined as the difference between the most recent observations of the TNO/Centaur and the reference ephemeris. This method can be successfully applied when the offset remains constant with time, i.e. when the orbit is stable enough. In this case, the prediction even holds for occultations that occur several days after the last observations. This paper presents an alternative method of prediction, based on a new accurate orbit determination procedure, which uses all the available positions of the TNO from the Minor Planet Center database, as well as sets of new astrometric positions from unpublished observations. Orbits were determined through a numerical integration procedure called NIMA, in which we developed a specific weighting scheme that considers the individual precision of the observation, the number of observations performed during one night by the same observatory, and the presence of systematic errors in the positions.
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Search Results
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/793/50
- Title:
- Observed light curve of (3200) Phaethon
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/793/50
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- (3200) Phaethon exhibits both comet- and asteroid-like properties, suggesting it could be a rare transitional object such as a dormant comet or previously volatile-rich asteroid. This justifies detailed study of (3200) Phaethon's physical properties as a better understanding of asteroid-comet transition objects can provide insight into minor body evolution. We therefore acquired time series photometry of (3200) Phaethon over 15 nights from 1994 to 2013, primarily using the Tektronix 2048x2048 pixel CCD on the University of Hawaii 2.2 m telescope. We utilized light curve inversion to (1) refine (3200) Phaethon's rotational period to P=3.6032+/-0.0008 hr; (2) estimate a rotational pole orientation of {lambda}=+85{deg}+/-13{deg} and {beta}=-20{deg}+/-10{deg}; and (3) derive a shape model. We also used our extensive light curve data set to estimate the slope parameter of (3200) Phaethon's phase curve as G~0.06, consistent with C-type asteroids. We discuss how this highly oblique pole orientation with a negative ecliptic latitude supports previous evidence for (3200) Phaethon's origin in the inner main asteroid belt as well as the potential for deeply buried volatiles fueling impulsive yet rare cometary outbursts.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/109/1363
- Title:
- Occultations of stars by asteroids 1995-96
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/109/1363
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Predictions, based on a computerized comparison of asteroid ephemerides with the catalog positions of 567,500 stars, are given for 155 occultations of stars by asteroids in 1995 and 1996. On average, the predictions are expected to be more accurate than in earlier searches because of the use of more modern star catalogs. A number of very favorable occultations, visible in North Armerica and elsewhere, are discussed.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/PAZh/30/692
- Title:
- Occultations of stars by large TNO 2004-2014
- Short Name:
- J/PAZh/30/692
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Occultations of stars brighter than 15m by largest trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are predicted. Search was performed using the following catalogues: Hipparcos (Cat. <I/239>; Tycho2 (Cat. <I/259>) with coordinates of 2838666 stars taken from UCAC2 (Herald, 2003); UCAC2 (Zacharias et al., 2003, Cat. <I/289>) with 16356096 stars between 12.00 and 14.99mag to the north from -45{deg} declination. Predictions were made for 17 largest numbered transneptunian asteroids and 4 known binary Kuiper Belt objects. 67 events occuring at solar elongation of 30{deg} and more are selected. Observations of these occultations by all available means are extremely important since they can give unique information about the size of TNOs and improve their orbits dramatically. Finder charts and preliminary path plots are available separately at http://hea.iki.rssi.ru/~denis/TNOocc.html of by E-mail to denis@hea.iki.rssi.ru
- 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.
- 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/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/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.
