Exploring the Kuiper Belt with the Magellan Telescopes

用麦哲伦望远镜探索柯伊伯带

• 批准号: 0406493
• 负责人: James Elliot
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-10-01 至 2008-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0406493&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Exploring; Kuiper; Belt; Magellan; Telescopes

AST 0406493ElliotLocated at the edge of the observable solar system, the Kuiper belt contains ~70,000 objects larger than 100 km in diameter. Over 800 of these small, icy bodies have been identifiedand catalogued. The inhabitants of this region (Kuiper belt objects, aka KBOs) have likelyexperienced little thermal modification since their formation 4.5 billion years ago, so the Kuiperbelt may be considered a fossil record of the outer solar system. In its youth, the Kuiper belt might have appeared from afar as a disk of debris, analogous to the those currently observed around young stars (e.g. Beta Pictoris), providing a link between our knowledge of processes at work in our solar system to those at work in stellar disks in the early stages of their evolution. Dr. James Elliot and colleagues will pursue an integrated set of four research tasks to investigate the Kuiper belt, primarily with the 6.5-m Magellan telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory: (1) complete a discovery sample of 500 KBOs through our participation in the Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES), (2) attempt to identify a primordial population at the center of the Kuiper belt plane with multi-color observations, (3) discover and characterize the binary KBOs, and (4) refine orbits for a set of KBOs to the level required to predict stellar occultations. The goal of the DES is to discover 500 KBOs and to follow up the discoveries until the objects have orbits that are sufficiently accurate for dynamical classification. This survey provides a well-documented sample of KBOs from which inferences can be made about the entire KBO population. Dr. Elliot and team will recover southern-hemisphere DES discoveries with the Magellan telescopes. Recovery observations will prevent the loss of new discoveries, establish dynamical classes, and identify particularly interesting objects, such as binary KBOs. Data from the DES demonstrates that the distribution of KBOs as a function of latitude relative to the plane of the Kuiper belt is sharply peaked. Such an unresolved peak suggests a dynamically primordial population of KBOs. The second research task is to obtain photometry of these KBOs with the Magellan telescopes to compare with the average Kuiper belt population. These observations may uncover a physical difference in the KBOs that have not experienced major orbital perturbations since their formation. Binary KBOs are of interest because the system mass can be deduced from knowledge of a binary orbit, and their existence and collective properties constrain dynamical models of the Kuiper belt. This project will characterize their shapes and albedos with photometric observations. With stellar occultations, Dr. Elliot can probe KBOs with a spatial resolution of a few kilometers, and from these data can establish their diameters, probe for an atmospheres, and search for potential nearby companions. He plans to improve the orbit quality of the brightest KBOs in the southern hemisphere to the accuracy needed to predict occultations. The research will not only further our knowledge of the Kuiper belt, but it will have broader impacts as well. It will contribute to the education of undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral associates through their involvement in the research. This research program will also foster broader community interactions through strong connections to the DES team (six institutions) and the Magellan consortium (five institutions). The results will be disseminated to the community and the public at large through the worldwide web, talks, and publications.***

AST 0406493Elliot 柯伊伯带位于可观测太阳系的边缘，包含约 70,000 个直径大于 100 公里的天体。超过 800 个这样的小冰体已被识别并编目。该地区的居民（柯伊伯带天体，又名柯伊伯带天体）自 45 亿年前形成以来，很可能经历过很少的热变化，因此柯伊伯带可能被认为是外太阳系的化石记录。在其年轻时，柯伊伯带可能从远处看起来是一个碎片盘，类似于目前在年轻恒星（例如绘架座β）周围观察到的碎片盘，它将我们对太阳系中工作过程的了解与恒星演化早期阶段中的恒星盘中工作的知识联系起来。 James Elliot 博士及其同事将主要利用拉斯坎帕纳斯天文台的 6.5 米麦哲伦望远镜执行四项综合研究任务来调查柯伊伯带：(1) 通过参与深黄道巡天 (DES) 完成 500 个柯伊伯天体的发现样本，(2) 尝试通过多色观测来识别柯伊伯带平面中心的原始种群， (3) 发现并表征双星柯伊伯带天体，(4) 将一组柯伊伯带天体轨道细化至预测恒星掩星所需的水平。 DES 的目标是发现 500 个柯伊伯带天体，并跟踪发现，直到这些物体的轨道足以进行动力学分类。这项调查提供了一份有据可查的柯伊伯带天体样本，从中可以对整个柯伊伯带天体种群进行推断。埃利奥特博士和团队将利用麦哲伦望远镜恢复南半球 DES 发现。恢复观测将防止新发现的丢失，建立动态类别，并识别特别有趣的物体，例如二元柯伊伯带天体。来自 DES 的数据表明，柯伊伯带天体的分布随相对于柯伊伯带平面的纬度而变化，其分布出现了尖锐的峰值。这种未解决的峰值表明柯伊伯带天体的原始动态种群。第二个研究任务是利用麦哲伦望远镜获得这些柯伊伯天体的光度测量结果，以便与柯伊伯带的平均数量进行比较。这些观测结果可能会揭示柯伊伯带天体的物理差异，这些柯伊伯带天体自形成以来并未经历过重大的轨道扰动。双柯伊伯带天体之所以引起人们的兴趣，是因为系统质量可以从双星轨道的知识中推导出来，并且它们的存在和集体特性限制了柯伊伯带的动力学模型。该项目将通过光度观测来表征它们的形状和反照率。通过恒星掩星，埃利奥特博士可以以几公里的空间分辨率探测柯伊伯带天体，并根据这些数据可以确定它们的直径，探测大气层，并寻找附近潜在的伴星。他计划将南半球最亮的柯伊伯带天体的轨道质量提高到预测掩星所需的精度。这项研究不仅将加深我们对柯伊伯带的了解，还将产生更广泛的影响。它将通过本科生、研究生和博士后参与研究，为他们的教育做出贡献。该研究计划还将通过与 DES 团队（六个机构）和麦哲伦联盟（五个机构）的紧密联系，促进更广泛的社区互动。结果将通过万维网、讲座和出版物向社区和广大公众传播。***