Exploring the Kuiper Belt with the Magellan Telescopes

埃利奥特位于可观测太阳系的边缘，柯伊伯带包含约70,000个直径大于100公里的天体。超过800个这样的小型冰冻天体已经被识别和编目。该地区的居民(柯伊伯带天体，又名KBOS)自45亿年前形成以来，可能几乎没有经历过热变化，因此柯伊伯带可能被认为是外太阳系的化石记录。在年轻的时候，柯伊伯带可能从远处看起来就像一个碎片盘，类似于目前在年轻恒星周围观察到的那些碎片(例如Beta Pictoris)，在我们对太阳系工作过程的了解与恒星演化早期阶段的工作过程之间提供了联系。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，对柯伊伯带进行一整套研究：(1)通过参与深黄道调查(DES)完成500个KBO的发现样本；(2)尝试通过多色观测确定柯伊伯带平面中心的原始种群；(3)发现和表征双星KBO；以及(4)将一组KBO的轨道精炼到预测恒星掩星所需的水平。DES的目标是发现500个KBO，并跟踪这些发现，直到这些天体的轨道足够准确，可以进行动力学分类。这项调查提供了一个有充分记录的KBO样本，从中可以对整个KBO人群做出推断。埃利奥特博士和他的团队将用麦哲伦望远镜恢复南半球的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，如双星KBO。来自DES的数据表明，KBO的分布作为相对于柯伊伯带平面的纬度的函数出现了急剧的峰值。如此悬而未决的峰值表明，KBO是一个动态的原始种群。第二项研究任务是用麦哲伦望远镜对这些KBO进行测光，以与柯伊伯带的平均人口进行比较。这些观测可能揭示出KBO自形成以来没有经历过重大轨道扰动的物理差异。双星KBO之所以令人感兴趣，是因为系统质量可以从双星轨道的知识中推导出来，而它们的存在和集体性质制约着柯伊伯带的动力学模型。这个项目将通过光度观测来表征它们的形状和反照率。有了恒星掩星，埃利奥特博士可以探测空间分辨率为几公里的KBO，并从这些数据中确定它们的直径，探测大气层，并搜索潜在的附近同伴。他计划将南半球最亮的KBO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，而且还将产生更广泛的影响。它将通过参与研究，为本科生、研究生和博士后助理的教育做出贡献。该研究计划还将通过与DES团队(六个机构)和麦哲伦财团(五个机构)的紧密联系，促进更广泛的社区互动。结果将通过全球网络、讲座和出版物向社区和广大公众传播。*

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.***