Potential KBO Stellar Occultations: 2011-2015

Details Potential KBO Stellar Occultations: 2011-2015 Potential KBO Stellar Occultations: 2011-2015

Oct 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.4020z&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #40.20

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We present the results of an occultation candidate search of the UCAC2 catalog for over 30 Kuiper Belt Objects and Centaurs [not including (134340) Pluto]. KBOs were selected based on absolute magnitude, distance from the sun and the number of oppositions observed. This search identified occultation candidate stars within 2.5 arcseconds of each minor planet's path from 2011-2015. As typical UCAC2 catalog uncertainties ranged from 0.05 to 0.5 arcseconds, and KBO ephemeris uncertainties for a well-observed object ranged from 0.2 to 0.6 arcseconds, this study seeks to identify the most promising potential occultations for further astrometric follow-up. Additional observations of stars and the potentially occulting body help determine the necessary star offsets and ephemeris corrections. Events have been grouped into the following categories: near-geocentric (any brightness), near-misses, stars of magnitude 13 or brighter (the dimmest star feasible with a large portable telescope), slow events, and events observable from telescope-rich regions of the Earth. These categories allow for planning campaigns involving wide-spread portable and fixed telescopes, or an airborne telescope (such as SOFIA). The two most promising events are an encounter of (28978) Ixion with a 10.63 magnitude star on 2012-04-16 and (84922) 2003 VS2 with a 14.83 magnitude star on 2011-11-01. KBOs such as (50000) Quaoar, (28978) Ixion, (55638) 2002 VE95, and (84922) 2003 VS2 encounter over 50 UCAC2 stars in the next five years and should be most carefully monitored. This work was supported, in part by NASA Grant NNX10AB27G.

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