THE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION COLLABORATIVE OCCULTATION NETWORK: A SYSTEM FOR COORDINATED TNO OCCULTATION OBSERVATIONS
THE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION COLLABORATIVE OCCULTATION NETWORK: A SYSTEM FOR COORDINATED TNO OCCULTATION OBSERVATIONS
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DOI：
10.3847/0004-6256/151/3/73
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发表时间：
2016-02
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
M. Buie;J. Keller
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
M. Buie;J. Keller
我们描述了一种收集跨海王星天体(TNOS)协调掩星观测的新系统和方法。太阳系外天体的掩星更难预测，因为它们的距离很大，而且用于确定它们的轨道和位置的天体测量数据的跨度有限。这个项目将研究和教育界聚集在一起，形成了一个独特的公民-科学伙伴关系，以克服观察这些遥远物体的困难。该项目的目标是获得直径大于100公里的跨国公司的尺寸和形状。作为系统设计的结果，它还将用作空间间隔小到接触系统的双星系统的探测器。传统的掩星工作努力获得足够好的预测，将移动地面站放置在阴影轨道上。我们的系统采用了一种新的方法，即建立大量固定的观测站，让阴影进入网络。车站的标称间距为50公里，因此我们确保两根弦处于我们的极限尺寸。该网络在美国西部沿着一条大致为南北的线延伸约2000公里。该网络包含56个致力于该项目的站点，我们从国际掩星计时协会成员那里获得了额外的特别支持。在我们的最小尺寸下，两个站将记录一个事件，而其他站将探测内部区域的次要事件。较大的物体将获得更多的和弦，并将允许确定形状轮廓。这些电视台几乎完全位于学校的所在地，通常是9-12年级的学校。我们将详细描述我们为继续探索柯伊伯带而开发的系统。
We describe a new system and method for collecting coordinated occultation observations of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Occultations by objects in the outer solar system are more difficult to predict due to their large distance and limited span of the astrometric data used to determine their orbits and positions. This project brings together the research and educational community into a unique citizen-science partnership to overcome the difficulties of observing these distant objects. The goal of the project is to get sizes and shapes for TNOs with diameters larger than 100 km. As a result of the system design it will also serve as a probe for binary systems with spatial separations as small as contact systems. Traditional occultation efforts strive to get a prediction sufficiently good to place mobile ground stations in the shadow track. Our system takes a new approach of setting up a large number of fixed observing stations and letting the shadows come to the network. The nominal spacing of the stations is 50 km so that we ensure two chords at our limiting size. The spread of the network is roughly 2000 km along a roughly north–south line in the western United States. The network contains 56 stations that are committed to the project and we get additional ad hoc support from International Occultation Timing Association members. At our minimum size, two stations will record an event while the other stations will be probing the inner regions for secondary events. Larger objects will get more chords and will allow determination of shape profiles. The stations are almost exclusively sited and associated with schools, usually at the 9–12 grade level. We present a full description of the system we have developed for the continued exploration of the Kuiper Belt.