Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jun 1997
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997icar..127..494j&link_type=abstract
Icarus, Volume 127, Issue 2, pp. 494-507.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
22
Scientific paper
Spacewatch was the first large-scale astronomical survey program employing automated and real-time software for moving object detection. The search has resulted in the discovery of three new Centaurs and a serendipitous detection of (2060) Chiron. We have determined the efficiency of the Spacewatch system as a function of an object's apparent visual magnitude and rate of motion. Convolving these efficiencies with the scanning pattern of the telescope and a theoretically motivated orbital distribution for the Centaurs allows us to determine the system's efficiency as a function of their absolute magnitude. The efficiency is nonzero in the range -4 < H < 11 (objects larger than about 40 km diameter) and has a maximum of about 3.4% at H ~ 5 (~600 km diameter). Restricting this study to a pristine set of data left a single Centaur discovery for this analysis. Assuming that the magnitude-frequency relation follows a power-law distribution (~10^alphaH), and based on the detection of 1993 HA_2, we find alpha = 0.61^+0.70_-0.40(stat) +/- 0.08(sys). At the 99% confidence level, for the orbital distribution used in this analysis and in the absolute magnitude range -4 < H < 10.5, there must be fewer than ~2000 Centaurs. This implies that the Centaur population may be as great or larger than the set of Main Belt asteroids in the same size range. Our best estimate suggests that there may be a total of only three objects of Chiron's size (~200 km diameter) or larger.
Herron J. D.
Jedicke Robert
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