Rosemary E. Pike

THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM ORIGINS SURVEY. I. DESIGN AND FIRST-QUARTER DISCOVERIES

National Research Council of Canada; National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada; Academia Sinica Postdoctoral Fellowship

The 5:1 Neptune Resonance as Probed by CFEPS: Dynamics and Population

The Canada-France Ecliptic Plane Survey discovered four trans-Neptunian objects with semi-major axes near the 5:1 resonance, revealing a large and previously undetected intrinsic population. Three of these objects are currently resonant with Neptune, and the fourth is consistent with being an object that escaped the resonance at some point in the past. The non-resonant object may be representative of a detached population that is stable at slightly lower semi-major axes than the 5:1 resonance. We generated clones of these objects by resampling the astrometric uncertainty and examined their behavior over a 4.5 Gyr numerical simulation. The majority of the clones of the three resonant objects (>90%) spend a total of 10^7 years in resonance during their 4.5 Gyr integrations; most clones experience multiple periods of resonance capture. Our dynamical integrations reveal an exchange between the 5:1 resonance, the scattering objects, and other large semi-major axis resonances, especially the 4:1, 6:1, and 7:1. The multiple capture events and relatively short resonance lifetimes after capture suggest that these objects are captured scattering objects that stick in the 5:1 resonance. These 5:1 resonators may be representative of a temporary population, requiring regular contributions from a source population. We examined the dynamical characteristics (inclination, eccentricity, resonant island, libration amplitude) of the detected objects and their clones in order to provide an empirical model of the orbit structure of the 5:1 resonance. This resonance is dynamically hot and includes primarily symmetric librators. Given our orbit model, the intrinsic population necessary for the detection of these three objects in the 5:1 resonance is 1900(+3300 -1400, 95% confidence) with H_g 0.5.

The Canada–France Ecliptic Plane Survey (CFEPS)—High-latitude Component

We report the orbital distribution of the Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) discovered during the High Ecliptic Latitude (HiLat) extension of the Canada-France Ecliptic Plane Survey (CFEPS), conducted from June 2006 to July 2009. The HiLat component was designed to address one of the shortcomings of ecliptic surveys (like CFEPS), their lack of sensitivity to high-inclination objects. We searched 701 deg 2 of sky ranging from 12 • to 85 • ecliptic latitude and discovered 24 TNOs, with inclinations between 15 • to 104 •. This survey places a very strong constraint on the inclination distribution of the hot component of the classical Kuiper Belt, ruling out any possibility of a large intrinsic fraction of highly inclined orbits. Using the parameterization of Brown (2001), the HiLat sample combined with CFEPS imposes a width 14 • ≤ σ ≤ 15.5 • , with a best match for σ = 14.5 •. HiLat discovered the first retrograde TNO, 2008 KV 42 , with an almost polar orbit with inclination 104 • , and (418993), a scattering object with perihelion in the region of Saturns influence, with a ∼ 400 AU and i = 68 • .

All planetesimals born near the Kuiper belt formed as binaries

The discovery of several Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) with anomalous properties (they are blue-coloured, whereas KBOs of the same type are red, and they are all binaries) gives constraints on formation processes in the outermost region of the Solar System.

TRIPPy: Trailed Image Photometry in Python

Photometry of moving sources typically suffers from reduced signal-to-noise (SNR) or flux measurements biased to incorrect low values through the use of circular apertures. To address this issue we present the software package, TRIPPy: TRailed Image Photometry in Python. TRIPPy introduces the pill aperture, which is the natural extension of the circular aperture appropriate for linearly trailed sources. The pill shape is a rectangle with two semicircular end-caps, and is described by three parameters, the trail length and angle, and the radius. The TRIPPy software package also includes a new technique to generate accurate model point-spread functions (PSF) and trailed point-spread functions (TSF) from stationary background sources in sidereally tracked images. The TSF is merely the convolution of the model PSF, which consists of a moffat profile, and super sampled lookup table. From the TSF, accurate pill aperture corrections can be estimated as a function of pill radius with a accuracy of 10 millimags for highly trailed sources. Analogous to the use of small circular apertures and associated aperture corrections, small radius pill apertures can be used to preserve signal-to-noise of low flux sources, with appropriate aperture correction applied to provide an accurate, unbiased flux measurement at all SNR.

OSSOS. V. Diffusion in the Orbit of a High-perihelion Distant Solar System Object

UK STFC [ST/L000709/1]; National Research Council of Canada; National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada; Slovak Grant Agency for Science; VEGA [2/0031/14]

Col-OSSOS: Z-Band Photometry Reveals Three Distinct TNO Surface Types

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

OSSOS. IV. DISCOVERY OF A DWARF PLANET CANDIDATE IN THE 9:2 RESONANCE WITH NEPTUNE

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The Structure of the Distant Kuiper Belt in a Nice Model Scenario

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Details of Resonant Structures within a Nice Model Kuiper Belt: Predictions for High-perihelion TNO Detections

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