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Title: THE PECULIAR PHOTOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF 2010 WG9: A SLOWLY ROTATING TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECT FROM THE OORT CLOUD

Abstract

We present long-term BVRI observations of 2010 WG9, an {approx}100 km diameter trans-Neptunian object (TNO) with an extremely high inclination of 70 Degree-Sign discovered by the La Silla-QUEST southern sky survey. Most of the observations were obtained with ANDICAM on the SMARTS 1.3 m at Cerro Tololo, Chile from 2010 December to 2012 November. Additional observations were made with EFOSC2 on the 3.5 m NTT telescope of the European Southern Observatory at La Silla, Chile in 2011 February. The observations reveal a sinusoidal light curve with amplitude 0.14 mag and period 5.4955 {+-} 0.0025 days, which is likely half the true rotation period. Such long rotation periods have previously been observed only for tidally evolved binary TNOs, suggesting that 2010 WG9 may be such a system. We predict a nominal separation of at least 790 km, resolvable with the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based systems. We measure B - R = 1.318 {+-} 0.029 and V - R = 0.520 {+-} 0.018, consistent with the colors of modestly red Centaurs and Damocloids. At I-band wavelengths, we observe an unusually large variation of color with rotational phase, with R - I ranging from 0.394 {+-} 0.025 to 0.571 {+-} 0.044. Wemore » also measure an absolute R-band absolute magnitude of 7.93 {+-} 0.05 and solar phase coefficient of 0.049 {+-} 0.019 mag deg{sup -1}.« less

Authors:
; ;  [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT (United States)
  2. Astronomy Department, Yale University, New Haven, CT (United States)
  3. Department of Astronomy, University of Chile, Santiago (Chile)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22118728
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 146; Journal Issue: 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 1538-3881
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ASTRONOMY; ASTROPHYSICS; CHILE; COLOR; COMETS; DIAGRAMS; INCLINATION; PLANETS; ROTATION; SPACE; TELESCOPES; VISIBLE RADIATION

Citation Formats

Rabinowitz, David, Schwamb, Megan E., Hadjiyska, Elena, Tourtellotte, Suzanne, and Rojo, Patricio. THE PECULIAR PHOTOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF 2010 WG9: A SLOWLY ROTATING TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECT FROM THE OORT CLOUD. United States: N. p., 2013. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/146/1/17.
Rabinowitz, David, Schwamb, Megan E., Hadjiyska, Elena, Tourtellotte, Suzanne, & Rojo, Patricio. THE PECULIAR PHOTOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF 2010 WG9: A SLOWLY ROTATING TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECT FROM THE OORT CLOUD. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/146/1/17
Rabinowitz, David, Schwamb, Megan E., Hadjiyska, Elena, Tourtellotte, Suzanne, and Rojo, Patricio. 2013. "THE PECULIAR PHOTOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF 2010 WG9: A SLOWLY ROTATING TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECT FROM THE OORT CLOUD". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/146/1/17.
@article{osti_22118728,
title = {THE PECULIAR PHOTOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF 2010 WG9: A SLOWLY ROTATING TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECT FROM THE OORT CLOUD},
author = {Rabinowitz, David and Schwamb, Megan E. and Hadjiyska, Elena and Tourtellotte, Suzanne and Rojo, Patricio},
abstractNote = {We present long-term BVRI observations of 2010 WG9, an {approx}100 km diameter trans-Neptunian object (TNO) with an extremely high inclination of 70 Degree-Sign discovered by the La Silla-QUEST southern sky survey. Most of the observations were obtained with ANDICAM on the SMARTS 1.3 m at Cerro Tololo, Chile from 2010 December to 2012 November. Additional observations were made with EFOSC2 on the 3.5 m NTT telescope of the European Southern Observatory at La Silla, Chile in 2011 February. The observations reveal a sinusoidal light curve with amplitude 0.14 mag and period 5.4955 {+-} 0.0025 days, which is likely half the true rotation period. Such long rotation periods have previously been observed only for tidally evolved binary TNOs, suggesting that 2010 WG9 may be such a system. We predict a nominal separation of at least 790 km, resolvable with the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based systems. We measure B - R = 1.318 {+-} 0.029 and V - R = 0.520 {+-} 0.018, consistent with the colors of modestly red Centaurs and Damocloids. At I-band wavelengths, we observe an unusually large variation of color with rotational phase, with R - I ranging from 0.394 {+-} 0.025 to 0.571 {+-} 0.044. We also measure an absolute R-band absolute magnitude of 7.93 {+-} 0.05 and solar phase coefficient of 0.049 {+-} 0.019 mag deg{sup -1}.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-6256/146/1/17},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22118728}, journal = {Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)},
issn = {1538-3881},
number = 1,
volume = 146,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013},
month = {Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013}
}