Detectability of lightcurves of KBOs

Details Detectability of lightcurves of KBOs Detectability of lightcurves of KBOs

Jan 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005hia....13q.775l&link_type=abstract

In: Highlights of Astronomy, Vol. 13, as presented at the XXVth General Assembly of the IAU - 2003 [Sydney, Australia, 13 - 26 J

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Kuiper Belt Objects, Light Curves

Scientific paper

We present a statistical study of the detectability of lightcurves of Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs). Some Kuiper Belt objects display lightcurves that appear ""flat"" i.e. there are no significant brightness variations within the photometric uncertainties. The lack of brightness variations may be due to (1) the objects have very nearly spherical shapes or (2) their rotation axes coincide with the line of sight. We investigate the relative importance of these two effects and relate it to the observed fraction of ``flat'' lightcurves. This study suggests that the fraction of KBOs with detectable brightness variations may provide clues about the shape distribution of these objects. Although the current database of rotational properties of KBOs is still insufficient to draw any statistically meaningful conclusions we expect that with a larger dataset this method will provide a useful test for candidate KBO shape distributions.

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