The Astronomical Journal (Jan 2024)
The DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project (DEEP). VI. First Multiyear Observations of Trans-Neptunian Objects
- Hayden Smotherman,
- Pedro H. Bernardinelli,
- Stephen K. N. Portillo,
- Andrew J. Connolly,
- J. Bryce Kalmbach,
- Steven Stetzler,
- Mario Jurić,
- Dino Bektešević,
- Zachary Langford,
- Fred C. Adams,
- William J. Oldroyd,
- Matthew J. Holman,
- Colin Orion Chandler,
- Cesar Fuentes,
- David W. Gerdes,
- Hsing Wen Lin,
- Larissa Markwardt,
- Andrew McNeill,
- Michael Mommert,
- Kevin J. Napier,
- Matthew J. Payne,
- Darin Ragozzine,
- Andrew S. Rivkin,
- Hilke Schlichting,
- Scott S. Sheppard,
- Ryder Strauss,
- David E. Trilling,
- Chadwick A. Trujillo
Affiliations
- Hayden Smotherman
- ORCiD
- DiRAC Institute and the Department of Astronomy, University of Washington , Seattle, WA, USA ; [email protected]
- Pedro H. Bernardinelli
- ORCiD
- DiRAC Institute and the Department of Astronomy, University of Washington , Seattle, WA, USA ; [email protected]
- Stephen K. N. Portillo
- ORCiD
- DiRAC Institute and the Department of Astronomy, University of Washington , Seattle, WA, USA ; [email protected]; Department of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Concordia University of Edmonton , 7128 Ada Boulevard, Edmonton, AB, T5B 4E4, Canada
- Andrew J. Connolly
- ORCiD
- DiRAC Institute and the Department of Astronomy, University of Washington , Seattle, WA, USA ; [email protected]
- J. Bryce Kalmbach
- ORCiD
- DiRAC Institute and the Department of Astronomy, University of Washington , Seattle, WA, USA ; [email protected]
- Steven Stetzler
- ORCiD
- DiRAC Institute and the Department of Astronomy, University of Washington , Seattle, WA, USA ; [email protected]
- Mario Jurić
- ORCiD
- DiRAC Institute and the Department of Astronomy, University of Washington , Seattle, WA, USA ; [email protected]
- Dino Bektešević
- ORCiD
- DiRAC Institute and the Department of Astronomy, University of Washington , Seattle, WA, USA ; [email protected]
- Zachary Langford
- ORCiD
- DiRAC Institute and the Department of Astronomy, University of Washington , Seattle, WA, USA ; [email protected]; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Fred C. Adams
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- William J. Oldroyd
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , P.O. Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
- Matthew J. Holman
- ORCiD
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , 60 Garden Street, MS 51, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Colin Orion Chandler
- ORCiD
- DiRAC Institute and the Department of Astronomy, University of Washington , Seattle, WA, USA ; [email protected]; Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , P.O. Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA; LSST Interdisciplinary Network for Collaboration and Computing , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Cesar Fuentes
- ORCiD
- Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile , Camino del Observatorio 1515, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
- David W. Gerdes
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Hsing Wen Lin
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Larissa Markwardt
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Andrew McNeill
- Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , P.O. Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA; Department of Physics, Lehigh University , 16 Memorial Drive East, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA
- Michael Mommert
- ORCiD
- School of Computer Science, University of St. Gallen , Rosenbergstrasse 30, CH-9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland
- Kevin J. Napier
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Matthew J. Payne
- ORCiD
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , 60 Garden Street, MS 51, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Darin Ragozzine
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University , Provo, UT 84602, USA
- Andrew S. Rivkin
- ORCiD
- Applied Physics Lab, Johns Hopkins University , 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723, USA
- Hilke Schlichting
- ORCiD
- Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences, University of California Los Angeles , 595 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Scott S. Sheppard
- ORCiD
- Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science , Washington, DC 20015, USA
- Ryder Strauss
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , P.O. Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
- David E. Trilling
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , P.O. Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
- Chadwick A. Trujillo
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , P.O. Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad1524
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 167,
no. 3
p. 136
Abstract
We present the first set of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) observed on multiple nights in data taken from the DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project. Of these 110 TNOs, 105 do not coincide with previously known TNOs and appear to be new discoveries. Each individual detection for our objects resulted from a digital tracking search at TNO rates of motion, using two-to-four-hour exposure sets, and the detections were subsequently linked across multiple observing seasons. This procedure allows us to find objects with magnitudes m _VR ≈ 26. The object discovery processing also included a comprehensive population of objects injected into the images, with a recovery and linking rate of at least 94%. The final orbits were obtained using a specialized orbit-fitting procedure that accounts for the positional errors derived from the digital tracking procedure. Our results include robust orbits and magnitudes for classical TNOs with absolute magnitudes H ∼ 10, as well as a dynamically detached object found at 76 au (semimajor axis a ≈ 77 au). We find a disagreement between our population of classical TNOs and the CFEPS-L7 three-component model for the Kuiper Belt.
Keywords
