ASTRONOMY: Kuiper Belt Curiosity

The Kuiper Belt

Kepler and the Kuiper Belt

The proposed field-of-view of the Kepler mission is at an ecliptic latitude of ∼ 55, where the surface density of scattered Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) is a few percent that in the ecliptic plane. The rate of occultations of Kepler target stars by scattered KBOs with radii r & 10 km is ∼ 10 − 10 star yr, where the uncertainty reflects the current ignorance of the thickness of the scattered KBO d...

Formation of Kuiper Belt Binaries

The discovery that a substantial fraction of Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) exists in binaries with wide separations and roughly equal masses, has motivated a variety of new theories explaining their formation. Goldreich et al. (2002) proposed two formation scenarios: In the first, a transient binary is formed, which becomes bound with the aid of dynamical friction from the sea of small bodies (Ls ...

The Radial Distribution of the Kuiper Belt

We examine the radial distribution of the Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) using a method that is insensitive to observational bias effects. This technique allows the use of the discovery distances of all KBOs, independent of orbital classification or discovery circumstance. We verify the presence of an outer edge to the Kuiper Belt, as reported in other works, and we measure this edge to be at given...

Satellites of the Largest Kuiper Belt Objects

We have searched the four brightest objects in the Kuiper Belt for the presence of satellites using the newly commissioned Keck Observatory Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics system. Satellites are seen around three of the four objects: Pluto (whose satellite Charon is well-known and whose recently discovered smaller satellites are too faint to be detected), 2003 EL61 (where a second satellite is...