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A Search for Bright Kuiper Belt Objects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2013

Michael J. I. Brown  and
R. L. Webster
Michael J. I. Brown*
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic. 3052, Australia
R. L. Webster
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic. 3052, Australia
*
mbrown@physics.unimelb.edu.au
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Abstract

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Since 1992, 60 large Kuiper Belt objects have been detected by ground-based telescopes. Previous surveys which have detected objects have searched approximately 60□° and detected objects with magnitudes 20·6 < mR < 25·0. However, the luminosity function of brighter Kuiper Belt objects is not well determined. The detection of brighter objects would improve our ability to determine the Kuiper Belt objects' surface composition and provide constraints on the population statistics of different formation mechanisms. This paper describes a survey of 12·0□° of sky near the ecliptic to a limiting magnitude of mR ∼ 21. A slow moving candidate was detected near the magnitude limit of the survey.

Keywords

comets: generalsolar system: general
Type
Research Article
Information
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , 1998 , pp. 176 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 1998

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