The Whipple mission: A Space-based Survey of the Outer Solar System to 20,000 AU exploiting Occultations of Bright Stars

Details The Whipple mission: A Space-based Survey of the Outer Solar System to 20,000 AU exploiting Occultations of Bright Stars The Whipple mission: A Space-based Survey of the Outer Solar System to 20,000 AU exploiting Occultations of Bright Stars

Jan 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21544816a&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #448.16; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.456

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Theories show that the Oort Cloud extends beyond 20,000 AU from the Sun, while our observational horizon is modest, reaching just beyond the Kuiper Belt. Little is known about the smaller object (<10 km) population of the Kuiper Belt. The purpose of the Whipple mission is to test fundamental predictions of the theories of the origin and evolution of the system of planets, comets, and asteroids in the solar system. Whipple will employ stellar occultations to detect and measure the size distribution and heliocentric radial distribution of objects in the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud.
Whipple's telescope, a field flattened Schmidt with a 1m primary, 50 sq degrees FOV and imager mosaic of 36 1k x 1k CMOS will image 40,000 stars at a time, compiling lightcurves sampled at 40 Hz. Small bodies, ranging from 500m Kuiper Belt Objects to >5 km members of the Oort cloud will give rise to detectable signals when they occult target stars, allowing estimates of their sizes, distances, and abundances. We plan to put Whipple into a 100,000 km circular orbit, most likely at 28.5 degree inclination. This orbit will allow target fields to be selected along the ecliptic plane and at latitudes ranging from -20 degrees to +70 degrees. The nominal mission lifetime will be 5 years, with a possibility of an extended mission beyond.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

The Whipple mission: A Space-based Survey of the Outer Solar System to 20,000 AU exploiting Occultations of Bright Stars does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The Whipple mission: A Space-based Survey of the Outer Solar System to 20,000 AU exploiting Occultations of Bright Stars, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Whipple mission: A Space-based Survey of the Outer Solar System to 20,000 AU exploiting Occultations of Bright Stars will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-969418