A Search for Small Distant Moons of Neptune

Details A Search for Small Distant Moons of Neptune A Search for Small Distant Moons of Neptune

Aug 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001noao.prop..314h&link_type=abstract

NOAO Proposal ID #2001B-0314

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Scientific paper

With many new irregular satellites having been discovered over the last years around Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter, our attention naturally falls upon Neptune. During our successful 1999 search around Uranus (which added three irregulars to the two previously discovered by our team in 1997), we conducted a similar search around Neptune covering about 8 square degrees (almost the entire stable region around the planet). This survey yielded no new neptunian satellites down to R magnitude 24. In 1999 we interpreted the null result as supporting a violent destruction of the Neptunian outer satellite system as Triton was captured. However, in light of the recent discoveries around the other giant planets there are good reasons to believe that the largest un-discovered Neptune satellites are just beyond the previous survey's magnitude limit. We here request to apply deep moving-target imaging techniques (developed by our group) to push down to m_R~eq26.1 to verify if indeed Neptune lacks a satellite system like the other giant planets, implying a unique formation history.

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