Detection of Kuiper Belt Objects by Stellar Occultation

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Scientific paper

We present here the results for the first attempt to survey the sub-kilometre radius Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) population by stellar occultation. Using the unique capabilities of the 1.2m UK Schmidt Telescope (Anglo Australian Observatory, Siding Spring, Australia), in conjunction with the 6df Spectrograph (set up in a newly developed straight-through mode), we simultaneously monitored ~100 suitably selected stars. Our occultation observation program yielded ~7,000 hours of stellar light curves, with ~10 millisecond temporal resolution. The observation program was conducted over 16 nights during bright of moon periods in mid 2005. The data reduction and analysis indicates that we have captured events which are thought to be due to occultation events caused by distant solar system objects. All logged events are spread over many pixels, with 10 pixels (corresponding to 100 milliseconds) being the typical event duration. By simultaneously monitoring many stars in the same field, occultations caused by close-in earth bound objects and other sources of observational artefacts may be eliminated. We claim that a number of the events detected correspond to occultations caused by distant sub-kilometre radius KBO's. These objects are far too small to be seen by direct observation and cannot be detected by any other presently available methods. We also discuss the particular problems and limitations associated with making such observations with a multi-fibre instrument.

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