Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.6209e&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #62.09
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
With observations of a stellar occultation by a Kuiper belt object (KBO) from multiple stations, one could establish its radius with an accuracy of a few kilometers. Combining this radius with photometry would establish an accurate geometric albedo. For those KBOs with orbiting companions, these data will further provide highly accurate densities constraining material composition. Stellar occultation data also establish stringent upper limits on any atmospheres and probe for small, nearby companions. The difficulty in observing a KBO occultation has been in generating an accurate prediction so that observers can be deployed within the occultation shadow path. Current KBO ephemerides are at best accurate to a few tenths of an arcsecond, while angular radii of the largest bodies are less than 0.02 arcsec. To improve the ephemerides of the KBOs most promising for stellar occultations, we conduct astrometric observations of KBOs selected (i) for large angular radii, and (ii) in sky regions with large star densities. We have made bi-monthly observations with the Lowell 42-inch Hall telescope since Dec. 2004 and monthly to bi-monthly observations with the SMARTS 0.9 m at CTIO since May 2005. Approximately 1200 KBO astrometric measurements have been submitted to the Minor Planet Center. We use these data to establish ephemeris correction models with which we predict appulses by target KBOs. We observed three of these appulses to test our accuracy. The difference between the predicted and observed closeest approach agrees within the formal error for two of the three appulses, but the errors are somewhat larger than the body's radius. Hence our predictions are almost accurate enough to reliably place observers within the shadow path of a KBO occultation, and improving with each astrometric observation. This work is supported, in part, by USRA subcontract 8500-98-03 (Lowell Observatory) and NASA Grant NNX07AK73G (MIT).
Adams Elisabeth R.
Babcock Bryce A.
Bosh Amanda S.
Bright L.
Dunham Edward W.
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