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The Deep Ecliptic Survey: A Search for Kuiper Belt Objects and Centaurs. II. Dynamical Classification, the Kuiper Belt Plane, and the Core Population
J. L. Elliot,S. D. Kern,K. B. Clancy,A. A. S. Gulbis,R. L. Millis,M. W. Buie,L. H. Wasserman,E. I. Chiang,A. B. Jordan,D. E. Trilling
© 2005. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
The Astronomical Journal,Volume 129,Number 2Citation J. L. Elliotet al 2005AJ129 1117DOI 10.1086/427395
J. L. Elliot
AFFILIATIONS
Visiting Astronomer, Kitt Peak National Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation
Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
Lowell Observatory, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001
S. D. Kern
AFFILIATIONS
Visiting Astronomer, Kitt Peak National Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation
Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
K. B. Clancy
AFFILIATIONS
Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
A. A. S. Gulbis
AFFILIATIONS
Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
R. L. Millis
AFFILIATIONS
Visiting Astronomer, Kitt Peak National Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation
Lowell Observatory, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001
M. W. Buie
AFFILIATIONS
Visiting Astronomer, Kitt Peak National Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation
Lowell Observatory, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001
L. H. Wasserman
AFFILIATIONS
Visiting Astronomer, Kitt Peak National Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation
Lowell Observatory, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001
E. I. Chiang
AFFILIATIONS
Visiting Astronomer, Kitt Peak National Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation
Center for Integrative Planetary Sciences, Department of Astronomy, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720
Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow
A. B. Jordan
AFFILIATIONS
Visiting Astronomer, Kitt Peak National Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation
Center for Integrative Planetary Sciences, Department of Astronomy, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720
Current address: Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, Campus Box 391, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309
D. E. Trilling
AFFILIATIONS
Visiting Astronomer, Kitt Peak National Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, 209 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Current address: Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721
K. J. Meech
AFFILIATIONS
Institute for Astronomy, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822
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- Received2004 July 20
- Accepted2004 November 12
Abstract
The Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES)—a search optimized for the discovery of Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) with the Blanco and Mayall 4 m telescopes at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory and Kitt Peak National Observatory—has covered 550 deg2 from its inception in 1998 through the end of 2003. This survey has a mean 50% sensitivity atVR magnitude 22.5. We report here the discoveries of 320 designated KBOs and Centaurs for the period 2000 March through 2003 December and describe improvements to our discovery and recovery procedures. Our data and the data products needed to reproduce our analyses in this paper are available through the NOAO survey database. Here we present a dynamical classification scheme, based on the behavior of orbital integrations over 10 Myr. The dynamical classes, in order of testing, are "Resonant," "Centaur," "Scattered-Near," "Scattered-Extended," and "Classical." (These terms are capitalized when referring to our rigorous definitions.) Of the 382 total designated KBOs discovered by the DES, a subset of 196 objects have sufficiently accurate orbits for dynamical classification. Summary information is given for an additional 240 undesignated objects also discovered by the DES from its inception through the end of 2003. The number of classified DES objects (uncorrected for observational bias) are Classical, 96; Resonant, 54; Scattered-Near, 24; Scattered-Extended, 9; and Centaur, 13. We use subsets of the DES objects (which can have observational biases removed) and larger samples to perform dynamical analyses on the Kuiper belt. The first of these is a determination of the Kuiper belt plane (KBP), for which the Classical objects with inclinations less than 5° from the mean orbit pole yield a pole at R.A. = 273
92 ± 062 and decl. = 6670 ± 020 (J2000), consistent with the invariable plane of the solar system. A general method for removing observational biases from the DES data set is presented and used to find a provisional magnitude distribution and the distribution of orbital inclinations relative to the KBP. A power-law model fit to the cumulative magnitude distribution of all KBOs discovered by the DES in theVR filter yields an index of 0.86 ± 0.10 (with the efficiency parameters for the DES fitted simultaneously with the population power law). With the DES sensitivity parameters fixed, we derive power-law indices of 0.74 ± 0.05, 0.52 ± 0.08, and 0.74 ± 0.15, respectively, for the Classical, Resonant, and Scattered classes. Plans for calibration of the DES detection efficiency function and DES magnitudes are discussed. The inclination distribution confirms the presence of "hot" and "cold" populations; when the geometric sini factor is removed from the inclination distribution function, the cold population shows a concentrated "core" with a full width at half-maximum of approximately 46, while the hot population appears as a "halo," extending beyond 30°. The inclination distribution is used to infer the KBO distribution in the sky, as a function of latitude relative to the KBP. This inferred latitude distribution is reasonably consistent with the latitude distribution derived from direct observation, but the agreement is not perfect. We find no clear boundary between the Classical and Scattered classes either in their orbital inclinations with respect to the KBP or in their power-law indices in their respective magnitude distributions. This leaves open the possibility that common processes have shaped the distribution of orbital parameters for the two classes.