Presentation Abstract

Title Properties of the Large KBOs: Results from the Palomar Distant Solar System Survey
Author Block Megan E. Schwamb1, M. E. Brown2, D. L. Rabinowitz1
1Yale Univeristy, 2Caltech.
Abstract We present the results of a wide-field survey using the 1.2-m Samuel Oschin Telescope located at Palomar Observatory. This survey was designed to find the most distant members of the Kuiper belt and beyond. We searched ~12,000 square degrees within ± 30° of the ecliptic down to a mean limiting magnitude of 21.3 in R. Although designed to probe the Sedna region, our survey probes the orbital properties of the hot classical, scattered disk, detached, and resonant populations. A total number of 52 KBOs and Centaurs have been detected, 25 of which were discovered in this survey. We report our observed latitude distribution and implications for the Plutino population particularly the Kozai Plutinos. Our survey also probes the bright end of the dynamically hot (i>5°) KBO size distribution. We will discuss the brightness distribution of the excited (i > 5°) Kuiper belt for the largest and brightest objects and compare to previous results from pencil-beam surveys constraining the faint end of the observed luminosity function.


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42nd DPS Program published in BAAS volume 42 #4, 2010.