Wide Field Imaging of Solar System Objects With an 8192x8192 CCD Mosaic

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This proposal seeks funding to develop a unique 8192 x 8192 CCD mosaic camera to be used to carry out a program of distant comet recovery. The proposed Camera will be the largest CCD mosaic in existence, allowing very faint imaging over large areas for the first time. The goal of the comet recovery program is to detect periodic comets prior to the onset of sublimation in order to study the physical and chemical composition of cometary nuclei which includes both the characterization of the bare nucleus and modelling of the development of activity. It will be possible to recover comets as far out as 4-10 AU, with a limiting magnitude of 24, and a field of view of approximately 0.9 degree. This program will be conducted with the proposed instrument from Mauna Kea (using the 0.6m telescope) and from the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO) using a smaller CCD system built at CTIO for their Schmidt telescope. Additionally, the camera will be used to conduct a survey in order to characterize the poorly defined population of Earth-crossing Aten asteroids which can be potential space hazards. The proposed CCD instrument will also be available for use on the UH 2.2m telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope. Other UH planetary staff and students plan to use the instrument for wide-field lunar observations, wide-field observations of comet dust and plasma tails, search for occulation candidates for outer Solar System bodies, and for astrometric support for Hubble Space Telescope Observations, and additional collaborations with outside planetary observers have been arranged for searches for the Kuiper cometary belt.