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Register a new userA Deep Search for Binary TNOs
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The Latitude Density Search utilized Hyper Suprime-Cam on Subaru Telescope to discover 60 moving objects in the outer Solar System, 54 of which have semi-major axes beyond 30 AU. The images were acquired in exceptional seeing (0.4) and reached a detection limit of m_r~=25.2. The two night arcs were used to calculate orbits which are poorly constrained, however, the distance and inclination are the parameters best constrained by short arcs and a reasonable determination can be made of which objects are cold classical TNOs and which are dynamically excited. We identify 10 objects as likely cold classical objects. We searched all of the detections for binary sources using a trailed Point Spread Function subtraction method, and identified one binary object with a separation of 0.34 and a secondary with 17% the brightness of the primary (2.0 magnitudes fainter). This is the brightest TNO in the sample, the previously known object 471165 (2010 HE79), which has a dynamically excited orbit. Because of the excellent seeing, this search was sensitive to binaries with 0.34 separation and a brightness of >=50% the primary brightness for 7 objects, including one cold classical. This gives an intrinsic binary fraction of ~17% (1 of 6) for the dynamically excited objects within our detection limits. The trailed point spread function subtraction method to identify binaries, fit the two components, and determine the sensitivity limits, used in the Latitude Density Search is a useful tool that could be more broadly applied to identify binary TNOs and track known binary TNO orbits.
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We present results from a new pipeline custom-designed to search for faint, undiscovered solar system bodies using full-frame image data from the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. This pipeline removes the baseline flux of each pixel before aligning and co-adding frames along plausible orbital paths of interest. We first demonstrate the performance of the pipeline by recovering the signals of three trans-Neptunian objects -- 90377 Sedna ($V=20.64$), 2015 BP519 ($V=21.81$), and 2007 TG422 ($V=22.32$) -- both through shift-stacking along their known sky-projected paths and through a blind recovery. We then apply this blind search procedure in a proof-of-concept survey of TESS Sectors 18 and 19, which extend through a portion of the galactic plane in the Northern Hemisphere. We search for dim objects at geocentric distances $d=70-800$ au in a targeted search for Planet Nine and any previously unknown detached Kuiper belt objects that may shed light on the Planet Nine hypothesis. With no input orbital information, our present pipeline can reliably recover the signals of distant solar system bodies in the galactic plane with $V<21$ and current distances $dlesssim 150$ au, and we elaborate on paths forward to push these limits in future optimizations. The methods described in this paper will serve as a foundation for an all-sky shift-stacking survey of the distant solar system with TESS.
Large or even medium sized asteroids impacting the Earth can cause damage on a global scale. Existing and planned concepts for finding near-Earth objects (NEOs) with diameter of 140 m or larger would take ~15-20 years of observation to find ~90% of them. This includes both ground and space based projects. For smaller NEOs (~50-70 m in diameter), the time scale is many decades. The reason it takes so long to detect these objects is because most of the NEOs have highly elliptical orbits that bring them into the inner solar system once per orbit. If these objects cross the Earths orbit when the Earth is on the other side of the Sun, they will not be detected by facilities on or around the Earth. A constellation of MicroSats in orbit around the Sun can dramatically reduce the time needed to find 90% of NEOs ~100-140 m in diameter.
As the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) fulfills its primary mission it is executing an unprecedented all-sky survey with the potential to discover distant planets in our own solar system, as well as hundreds of Transneptunian Objects (TNOs) and Centaurs. We demonstrate that shift-and-stack techniques can be used to efficiently search the Full-Frame Image (FFI) data from the TESS mission and survey the entire sky for outer Solar System objects down to $sim22^{nd}$ magnitude.
A search for laser light from Proxima Centauri was performed, including 107 high-resolution, optical spectra obtained between 2004 and 2019. Among them, 57 spectra contain multiple, confined spectral combs, each consisting of 10 closely-spaced frequencies of light. The spectral combs, as entities, are themselves equally spaced with a frequency separation of 5800 GHz, rendering them unambiguously technological in origin. However, the combs do not originate at Proxima Centauri. Otherwise, the 107 spectra of Proxima Centauri show no evidence of technological signals, including 29 observations between March and July 2019 when the candidate technological radio signal, BLC1, was captured by Breakthrough Listen. This search would have revealed lasers pointed toward Earth having a power of 20 to 120 kilowatts and located within the 1.3au field of view centered on Proxima Centauri, assuming a benchmark laser launcher having a 10-meter aperture.
Photometry of stars from the K2 extension of NASAs Kepler mission is afflicted by systematic effects caused by small (few-pixel) drifts in the telescope pointing and other spacecraft issues. We present a method for searching K2 light curves for evidence of exoplanets by simultaneously fitting for these systematics and the transit signals of interest. This method is more computationally expensive than standard search algorithms but we demonstrate that it can be efficiently implemented and used to discover transit signals. We apply this method to the full Campaign 1 dataset and report a list of 36 planet candidates transiting 31 stars, along with an analysis of the pipeline performance and detection efficiency based on artificial signal injections and recoveries. For all planet candidates, we present posterior distributions on the properties of each system based strictly on the transit observables.
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