Search for small trans-Neptunian objects by the TAOS project

W. P. Chen; C. Alcock; T. Axelrod; F. B. Bianco; Y. I. Byun; Y. H. Chang; K. H. Cook; R. Dave; J. Giammarco; D. W. Kim; S. K. King; T. Lee; M. Lehner; C. C. Lin; H. C. Lin; J. J. Lissauer; S. Marshall; N. Meinshausen; S. Mondal; I. De Pater; R. Porrata; J. Rice; M. E. Schwamb; A. Wang; S. Y. Wang; C. Y. Wen; Z. W. Zhang

doi:10.1017/S1743921307003079

Search for small trans-Neptunian objects by the TAOS project

W. P. Chen, C. Alcock, T. Axelrod, F. B. Bianco, Y. I. Byun, Y. H. Chang, K. H. Cook, R. Dave, J. Giammarco, D. W. Kim, S. K. King, T. Lee, M. Lehner, C. C. Lin, H. C. Lin, J. J. Lissauer, S. Marshall, N. Meinshausen, S. Mondal, I. De PaterR. Porrata, J. Rice, M. E. Schwamb, A. Wang, S. Y. Wang, C. Y. Wen, Z. W. Zhang

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Abstract

The Taiwan-America Occultation Survey (TAOS) aims to determine the number of small icy bodies in the outer reach of the Solar System by means of stellar occultation. An array of 4 robotic small (D=0.5 m), wide-field (f/1.9) telescopes have been installed at Lulin Observatory in Taiwan to simultaneously monitor some thousand of stars for such rare occultation events. Because a typical occultation event by a TNO a few km across will last for only a fraction of a second, fast photometry is necessary. A special CCD readout scheme has been devised to allow for stellar photometry taken a few times per second. Effective analysis pipelines have been developed to process stellar light curves and to correlate any possible flux changes among all telescopes. A few billion photometric measurements have been collected since the routine survey began in early 2005. Our preliminary result of a very low detection rate suggests a deficit of small TNOs down to a few km size, consistent with the extrapolation of some recent studies of larger (30100 km) TNOs.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	65-68
Number of pages	4
Journal	Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Volume	2
Issue number	S236
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921307003079
Publication status	Published - 2006 Aug

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The NCU group acknowledges the NSC grant 95-2119-M-008-028. KHC’s work was performed under the auspices of the US DOE, by the University of California, LLNL under contract No. W-7405-Eng-48.

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.1017/S1743921307003079

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Chen, W. P., Alcock, C., Axelrod, T., Bianco, F. B., Byun, Y. I., Chang, Y. H., Cook, K. H., Dave, R., Giammarco, J., Kim, D. W., King, S. K., Lee, T., Lehner, M., Lin, C. C., Lin, H. C., Lissauer, J. J., Marshall, S., Meinshausen, N., Mondal, S., ... Zhang, Z. W. (2006). Search for small trans-Neptunian objects by the TAOS project. Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, 2(S236), 65-68. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921307003079

@article{c1737244a4f149068d34030297a29923,

title = "Search for small trans-Neptunian objects by the TAOS project",

abstract = "The Taiwan-America Occultation Survey (TAOS) aims to determine the number of small icy bodies in the outer reach of the Solar System by means of stellar occultation. An array of 4 robotic small (D=0.5 m), wide-field (f/1.9) telescopes have been installed at Lulin Observatory in Taiwan to simultaneously monitor some thousand of stars for such rare occultation events. Because a typical occultation event by a TNO a few km across will last for only a fraction of a second, fast photometry is necessary. A special CCD readout scheme has been devised to allow for stellar photometry taken a few times per second. Effective analysis pipelines have been developed to process stellar light curves and to correlate any possible flux changes among all telescopes. A few billion photometric measurements have been collected since the routine survey began in early 2005. Our preliminary result of a very low detection rate suggests a deficit of small TNOs down to a few km size, consistent with the extrapolation of some recent studies of larger (30100 km) TNOs.",

author = "Chen, {W. P.} and C. Alcock and T. Axelrod and Bianco, {F. B.} and Byun, {Y. I.} and Chang, {Y. H.} and Cook, {K. H.} and R. Dave and J. Giammarco and Kim, {D. W.} and King, {S. K.} and T. Lee and M. Lehner and Lin, {C. C.} and Lin, {H. C.} and Lissauer, {J. J.} and S. Marshall and N. Meinshausen and S. Mondal and {De Pater}, I. and R. Porrata and J. Rice and Schwamb, {M. E.} and A. Wang and Wang, {S. Y.} and Wen, {C. Y.} and Zhang, {Z. W.}",

note = "Funding Information: The NCU group acknowledges the NSC grant 95-2119-M-008-028. KHC{\textquoteright}s work was performed under the auspices of the US DOE, by the University of California, LLNL under contract No. W-7405-Eng-48.",

year = "2006",

month = aug,

doi = "10.1017/S1743921307003079",

language = "English",

volume = "2",

pages = "65--68",

journal = "Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union",

issn = "1743-9213",

publisher = "Cambridge University Press",

number = "S236",

}

Chen, WP, Alcock, C, Axelrod, T, Bianco, FB, Byun, YI, Chang, YH, Cook, KH, Dave, R, Giammarco, J, Kim, DW, King, SK, Lee, T, Lehner, M, Lin, CC, Lin, HC, Lissauer, JJ, Marshall, S, Meinshausen, N, Mondal, S, De Pater, I, Porrata, R, Rice, J, Schwamb, ME, Wang, A, Wang, SY, Wen, CY & Zhang, ZW 2006, 'Search for small trans-Neptunian objects by the TAOS project', Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, vol. 2, no. S236, pp. 65-68. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921307003079

TY - JOUR

T1 - Search for small trans-Neptunian objects by the TAOS project

AU - Chen, W. P.

AU - Alcock, C.

AU - Axelrod, T.

AU - Bianco, F. B.

AU - Byun, Y. I.

AU - Chang, Y. H.

AU - Cook, K. H.

AU - Dave, R.

AU - Giammarco, J.

AU - Kim, D. W.

AU - King, S. K.

AU - Lee, T.

AU - Lehner, M.

AU - Lin, C. C.

AU - Lin, H. C.

AU - Lissauer, J. J.

AU - Marshall, S.

AU - Meinshausen, N.

AU - Mondal, S.

AU - De Pater, I.

AU - Porrata, R.

AU - Rice, J.

AU - Schwamb, M. E.

AU - Wang, A.

AU - Wang, S. Y.

AU - Wen, C. Y.

AU - Zhang, Z. W.

N1 - Funding Information: The NCU group acknowledges the NSC grant 95-2119-M-008-028. KHC’s work was performed under the auspices of the US DOE, by the University of California, LLNL under contract No. W-7405-Eng-48.

PY - 2006/8

Y1 - 2006/8

N2 - The Taiwan-America Occultation Survey (TAOS) aims to determine the number of small icy bodies in the outer reach of the Solar System by means of stellar occultation. An array of 4 robotic small (D=0.5 m), wide-field (f/1.9) telescopes have been installed at Lulin Observatory in Taiwan to simultaneously monitor some thousand of stars for such rare occultation events. Because a typical occultation event by a TNO a few km across will last for only a fraction of a second, fast photometry is necessary. A special CCD readout scheme has been devised to allow for stellar photometry taken a few times per second. Effective analysis pipelines have been developed to process stellar light curves and to correlate any possible flux changes among all telescopes. A few billion photometric measurements have been collected since the routine survey began in early 2005. Our preliminary result of a very low detection rate suggests a deficit of small TNOs down to a few km size, consistent with the extrapolation of some recent studies of larger (30100 km) TNOs.

AB - The Taiwan-America Occultation Survey (TAOS) aims to determine the number of small icy bodies in the outer reach of the Solar System by means of stellar occultation. An array of 4 robotic small (D=0.5 m), wide-field (f/1.9) telescopes have been installed at Lulin Observatory in Taiwan to simultaneously monitor some thousand of stars for such rare occultation events. Because a typical occultation event by a TNO a few km across will last for only a fraction of a second, fast photometry is necessary. A special CCD readout scheme has been devised to allow for stellar photometry taken a few times per second. Effective analysis pipelines have been developed to process stellar light curves and to correlate any possible flux changes among all telescopes. A few billion photometric measurements have been collected since the routine survey began in early 2005. Our preliminary result of a very low detection rate suggests a deficit of small TNOs down to a few km size, consistent with the extrapolation of some recent studies of larger (30100 km) TNOs.

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JO - Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union

JF - Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union

IS - S236

ER -

Search for small trans-Neptunian objects by the TAOS project

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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