Direct Measurement of the Size of 2003 UB313 from the Hubble Space Telescope

@article{Brown2005DirectMO,  title={Direct Measurement of the Size of 2003 UB313 from the Hubble Space Telescope},  author={M. E. Brown and Emily L. Schaller and H. Roe and D. Rabinowitz and Chadwick A. Trujillo},  journal={The Astrophysical Journal Letters},  year={2005},  volume={643},  pages={L61 - L63},  url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:16487075}}
We have used the Hubble Space Telescope to directly measure the angular size of the large Kuiper Belt object 2003 UB313. By carefully calibrating the point-spread function of a nearby field star, we measure the size of 2003 UB313 to be 34.3 ± 1.4 mas, corresponding to a diameter of 2400 ± 100 km or a size ~5% larger than Pluto. The V-band geometric albedo of 2003 UB313 is 86% ± 7%. The extremely high albedo is consistent with the frosty methane spectrum, the lack of red coloring, and the lack… 

61 Citations

THE SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF KUIPER BELT OBJECTS FOR D ≳ 10 km

We have performed a survey of the Kuiper belt covering ∼1/3 deg2 of the sky using Suprime-cam on the Subaru telescope, to a limiting magnitude of m50(R) ∼ 26.8 and have found 36 new Kuiper belt…

Physical Properties of Kuiper Belt and Centaur Objects: Constraints from the Spitzer Space Telescope

Detecting heat from minor planers in the outer solar system is challenging, yet it is the most efficient means for constraining the albedos and sizes of Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) and their progeny,…

A study of photometric variations on the dwarf planet (136199) Eris

Context. Eris is the largest dwarf planet currently known in the solar system. Knowledge about its physical parameters is necessary to interpret the characteristics of these kinds of bodies. Aims.…

Size, density, albedo and atmosphere limit of dwarf planet Eris from a stellar occultation

We report the observation of a multi-chord stellar occultation by the dwarf planet (136199) Eris. The event was observed on November 6, 2010 UT, from two sites in Chile. Our observation is consistent…

Size , density , albedo and atmosphere limit of Eris from a stellar occultation

We report the observation of a multi-chord stellar occultation by the dwarf planet (136199) Eris. The event was observed on November 6, 2010 UT, from two sites in Chile. Our observation is consistent…

Light Curves of Dwarf Plutonian Planets and other Large Kuiper Belt Objects: Their Rotations, Phase Functions, and Absolute Magnitudes

I report new time-resolved light curves and determine the rotations and phase functions of several large Kuiper Belt objects, which includes the dwarf planet Eris (2003 UB313). Three of the new…

THE ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTION OF KUIPER BELT OBJECTS

Here we measure the absolute magnitude distributions (H-distribution) of the dynamically excited and quiescent (hot and cold) Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs), and test if they share the same…

A SOUTHERN SKY AND GALACTIC PLANE SURVEY FOR BRIGHT KUIPER BELT OBJECTS

About 2500 deg2 of sky south of declination −25° and/or near the Galactic Plane were surveyed for bright outer solar system objects. This survey is one of the first large-scale southern sky and…
...

21 References

The trans-neptunian object UB313 is larger than Pluto

Observations of the thermal emission of 2003 UB313 at a wavelength of 1.2 mm are reported, which in combination with the measured optical brightness leads to a diameter of 3,000 ± 300 ± 100 km, which makes 2003 Ub313 the largest known trans-neptunian object, even larger than Pluto.

Discovery of a Planetary-sized Object in the Scattered Kuiper Belt

We present the discovery and initial physical and dynamical characterization of the object 2003 UB313. The object is sufficiently bright that for all reasonable values of the albedo it is certain to…

The High-Albedo Kuiper Belt Object (55565) 2002 AW197

We detected thermal emission from the Kuiper Belt object 2002 AW197 in 2003 December and again in 2004 April using the Multiband Imaging Photometer on the Spitzer Space Telescope. In combination with…

Size estimates of some optically bright KBOs

Seven recently detected optically "bright" Kuiper-Belt-Objects (KBOs) were observed at 250 GHz using the Max-Planck Millimeter Bolometer (MAMBO) array at the IRAM 30 m telescope. Only the optical…

The recent expansion of Pluto's atmosphere

Observations at a variety of visible and infrared wavelengths of an occultation of a star by Pluto in August 2002 reveal evidence for extinction in Pluto's atmosphere and show that it has indeed changed, having expanded rather than collapsed, since 1988.

Position-dependent CCD charge diffusion: results from HST/ACS

    J. Krist
    Physics
    SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation
  • 2004
Charge diffusion can vary significantly over the area of a thinned CCD due to local differences in the device thickness. This effect can cause variations in the widths of point spread functions over…

Photometric diversity of terrains on Triton

Voyager disk-resolved images of Triton in the violet (0.41 μm) and green (0.56 μm) wavelengths have been analyzed to derive the photometric characteristics of terrains on Triton. Similar conclusions…

A Two-Color Map of Pluto’s Sub-Charon Hemisphere

Pluto and its satellite Charon regularly occulted or transited each other's disks from 1985 through 1990. The light curves resulting from these events (collectively called "mutual events") have been…

The methane ice rich surface of large TNO 2005 FY9: a Pluto-twin in the trans-neptunian belt?

Context. The population of known large trans-neptunian objects (TNOs) is growing very fast and the knowledge of their physical properties is a key issue to understand the origin and evolution of the…

Related Papers

Showing 1 through 3 of 0 Related Papers