DISCOVERY OF A NEW MEMBER OF THE INNER OORT CLOUD FROM THE NEXT GENERATION VIRGO CLUSTER SURVEY

Journal Article · Fri Sep 20 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/775/1/L8· OSTI ID:22215462

Chen, Ying-Tung; Ip, Wing-Huen ^[1]; Kavelaars, J. J.; Gwyn, Stephen; Ferrarese, Laura; Côté, Patrick ^[2]; Jordán, Andrés; Suc, Vincent ^[3]; Cuillandre, Jean-Charles ^[4]

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1. Institute of Astronomy, National Central University, No. 300, Jhongda Road, Jhongli City, Taoyuan County 32001, Taiwan (China)
2. Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Research Council of Canada, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7 (Canada)
3. Instituto de Astrofísica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul 7820436, Santiago (Chile)
4. Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation, 65-1238 Mamalahoa Hwy., Kamuela, HI 96743 (United States)

We report the discovery of 2010 GB{sub 174}, a likely new member of the Inner Oort Cloud (IOC). 2010 GB{sub 174} is 1 of 91 trans-Neptunian objects and Centaurs discovered in a 76 deg{sup 2} contiguous region imaged as part of the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS)—a moderate ecliptic latitude survey reaching a mean limiting magnitude of g' ≅ 25.5—using MegaPrime on the 3.6 m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. 2010 GB{sub 174} is found to have an orbit with a semi-major axis of a ≅ 350.8 AU, an inclination of i ≅ 21.°6, and a pericenter of q ∼ 48.5 AU. This is the second largest perihelion distance among known solar system objects. Based on the sky coverage and depth of the NGVS, we estimate the number of IOC members with sizes larger than 300 km (H{sub V} ≤ 6.2 mag) to be ≅ 11, 000. A comparison of the detection rate from the NGVS and the PDSSS (a characterized survey that 'rediscovered' the IOC object Sedna) gives, for an assumed a power-law luminosity function for IOC objects, a slope of α ≅ 0.7 ± 0.2. With only two detections in this region this slope estimate is highly uncertain.

• OSTI ID: 22215462
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 775, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
CANADA
DEPTH
DETECTION
DISTANCE
FRANCE
HAWAII
INCLINATION
LUMINOSITY
ORBITS
SKY
SOLAR SYSTEM
TELESCOPES