Related papers: Measuring the Sizes, Shapes, Surface Features and …
We have performed a survey of the Kuiper belt covering ~ 1/3 a square degree of the sky using Suprime-cam on the Subaru telescope, to a limiting magnitude of m(R)~ 26.8 (50% threshold) and have found 36 new KBOs. We have confirmed that the…
Dark matter pervades the Solar System, free-streaming at the halo's local Galactic orbital velocity and density. As these objects pass through the Solar system, they perturb gravitationally, and thus very weakly, all nearby inertial masses.…
A body in Solar orbit beyond the Kuiper belt exhibits an annual parallax that exceeds its apparent proper motion by up to many orders of magnitude. Apparent motion of this body along the parallactic ellipse will deflect the angular position…
The light from a source at a distance d will arrive at detectors separated by 100 AU at times that differ by as much as 120 (d/100 Mpc)^{-1} nanoseconds because of the curvature of the wavefront. At gigahertz frequencies, the arrival time…
Haumea is a dwarf planet with two known satellites, an unusually high spin rate, and a large collisional family, making it one of the most interesting objects in the outer solar system. A fully self-consistent formation scenario responsible…
We introduce a new method to perform high resolution astrometry of the solar diameter from the ground, through the observations of eclipses. A discussion of the solar diameter and its variations is linked to the Limb Darkening Function…
Interferometers from the ground and space will be able to resolve the two images in a microlensing event. This will at least partially lift the inherent degeneracy between physical parameters in microlensing events. To increase the…
The combination of visible and thermal data from the ground and astrophysics space missions is key to improving the scientific understanding of near-Earth, main-belt, trojans, centaurs, and trans-Neptunian objects. To get full information…
Optical interferometry is a powerful tool to investigate the close environment of AGB stars. With a spatial resolution of a few milli-arcseconds, it is even possible to image directly the surface of angularly large objects. This is of…
Discovery of transneptunian object (TNO) satellites and determination of their orbits has recently enabled estimation of the size and albedo of several small TNOs, extending the size range of objects having known size and albedo down into…
In absence of a lens to form an image, incoherent or partially coherent light scattering off an obstructive or reflective object forms a broad intensity distribution in the far field with only feeble spatial features. We show here that…
Haumea, thought to be the Kuiper Belt's 3rd most massive object, has a fast 3.92 hr rotational period, resulting in its shape as a triaxial ellipsoid. Here, we make the first detailed predictions of Haumea's surface morphology, considering…
Context: Observation of star occultations is a powerful tool to determine shapes and sizes of asteroids. This is key information necessary for studying the evolution of the asteroid belt and to calibrate indirect methods of size…
Motivated by a desire to understand the size distributon of the Kuiper Belt, an observing program was conducted at the Mount Palomar 5-m telescope from 1994-1996. The observations consisted of follow-up observations of known objects (in…
We describe calculations of the evolution of an ensemble of small planetesimals in the outer solar system. In a solar nebula with a mass of several times the Minimum Mass Solar Nebula, objects with radii of 100-1000 km can form on…
Trans-Neptunian objects and Centaurs are small solar system bodies that reside in the outer parts of the solar system. These objects present photometric behaviours that are influenced due to a change in their aspect angle. Using absolute…
The availability of a number of new interferometric measurements of Main Sequence and subgiant stars makes it possible to calibrate the surface brightness relations of these stars using exclusively direct angular diameter measurements.…
The search for minor bodies in the solar system promises insights into its formation history. Wide imaging surveys offer the opportunity to serendipitously discover and identify these traces of planetary formation and evolution. We aim to…
By providing sensitive sub-arcsecond images and integral field spectroscopy in the 25 - 400 micron wavelength range, a far-IR interferometer will revolutionize our understanding of planetary system formation, reveal otherwise-undetectable…
In the absence of any unseen planetary-mass bodies in the outer solar system, the mean plane of the distant Kuiper belt should be the same as the plane orthogonal to the angular momentum vector of the solar system -- the invariable plane.…