Related papers: The Size Distribution of Kuiper belt objects for D…
We report the statistical detection (at the >99% confidence level) of a population of 28th magnitude objects exhibiting proper motions of ~1 arcsecond per hour at quadrature in deep HST/WFPC2 images. The drift directions imply a…
We present the discovery of three new Scattered Kuiper Belt Objects (SKBOs) from a wide-field survey of the ecliptic. This continuing survey has to date covered 20.2 square degrees to a limiting red magnitude of 23.6. We combine the data…
The results of a search for sub-km Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) with the method of serendipitous stellar occultations are reported. Photometric time series were obtained on the 1.8m telescope at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory (DAO) in…
Using data from the Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES), we investigate the inclination distributions of objects in the Kuiper Belt. We present a derivation for observational bias removal and use this procedure to generate unbiased inclination…
Knowledge of the Kuiper Belt is currently limited to those objects that can be detected directly. Objects with diameters less than $\sim$10km reflect too little light to be detected. These smaller bodies could contain most of the mass in…
We conducted a two-night photometric survey of small Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) near opposition using the wide-field Hyper Suprime-Cam instrument on the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope. The survey covered about 90 deg^2 of sky, with each field…
We combine several constraints provided by the crater records on Arrokoth and the worlds of the Pluto system to compute the size-frequency distribution (SFD) of the crater production function for craters with diameter D<10km. For this…
Using the absolute detection calibration and abundant detections of the OSSOS (Outer Solar System Origin Survey) project, we provide population measurements for the main Kuiper Belt. For absolute magnitude $H_r<8.3$, there are 30,000…
The proposed field-of-view of the Kepler mission is at an ecliptic latitude of ~55 degrees, where the surface density of scattered Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) is a few percent that in the ecliptic plane. The rate of occultations of Kepler…
We propose a Roman Space Telescope survey to investigate fundamental properties of the distant solar system in the region of the Kuiper Belt where object characteristics and the size distribution are inaccessible from any other telescope.…
We present a new analysis of the currently available orbital elements for the known Kuiper belt objects. In the non-resonant, main Kuiper belt we find a statistically significant relationship between an object's absolute magnitude (H) and…
Detecting heat from minor planets 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, the Centaur objects. These physical…
In this letter, we call attention to a gap in binaries in the Kuiper belt in the mass range between $\approx$10$^{19}$-10$^{20}$ kg, with a corresponding dearth in binaries between 4th and 5th absolute magnitude $H$. The low-mass end of the…
A modified Baker-Nunn camera was used to conduct a wide-field survey of 1428 square degrees of sky near the ecliptic in search of bright Kuiper Belt objects and Centaurs. This area is an order of magnitude larger than any previously…
Measuring the size distribution of small (km-scale) KBOs can help constrain models of Solar System formation and planetary migration. Such small, distant bodies are hard to detect with current or planned telescopes, but can be identified as…
We report high precision photometry of three small and one larger Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (ACS/HST). The three small bodies are the smallest KBOs for which…
We present the results of a wide-field survey using the 1.2-m Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory. This survey was designed to find the most distant members of the Kuiper belt and beyond. We searched ~12,000 deg2 down to a mean…
There are several observational campaigns under way to detect kilometer size foreground Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) through their occultation of background stars. The interpretation of an occultation light curve, unfortunately, is affected…
The Kuiper Belt (KB) region of the solar system, stretching from 30 to at least 50 AU, contains Pluto-Charon, some ~105 Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) larger than 100 km in diameter, and myriad smaller bodies produced by collisions among KBOs…
The occultation of background stellar sources by foreground Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) can be used to survey physical properties of the KBO population. We discuss statistics related to a KBO occultation survey, such as the event duration…