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Small Body Surveys: The MPC Perspective

Small Body Surveys: The MPC Perspective. ACM 2014, Helsinki . As told to J.L. Galache by. Timothy Spahr Director, Minor Planet Center (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory). The Solar System Today. The Solar System Today. q ≈ 45 AU . q ≈ 1 AU . Q ≈ 1 AU . What’s this empty area!?

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Small Body Surveys: The MPC Perspective

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  1. Small Body Surveys: The MPC Perspective ACM 2014, Helsinki As told to J.L. Galache by Timothy Spahr Director, Minor Planet Center (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory)

  2. The Solar System Today ACM 2014, Helsinki

  3. The Solar System Today q ≈ 45 AU q ≈ 1 AU Q ≈ 1 AU What’s this empty area!? It’s the TNO astronomers’ work cut out for them. Trojans Plutinos Hildas Hungarias ACM 2014, Helsinki

  4. By objects, not mass! The Solar System Today (605,943) ACM 2014, Helsinki

  5. Main Belt Completeness Inner Belt (2.15-2.50 AU) Estimated completeness: H = 17.0 (D ≈ 1.2 km) α=0.468 α=0.609 G. Williams 2021, in preparation ACM 2014, Helsinki

  6. Main Belt Completeness Middle Belt (2.50-2.82 AU) Estimated completeness: H = 15.8 (D ≈ 2.9 km) α=0.557 G. Williams 2021, in preparation ACM 2014, Helsinki

  7. Main Belt Completeness Outer Belt (2.82-3.28 AU) Estimated completeness: H = 15.3 (D ≈ 4.7 km) α=0.514 G. Williams 2021, in preparation ACM 2014, Helsinki

  8. Numbered Minor Planets Discovered Over Time 50% reached in 2002 UCAS T-1, T-2, T-3 Palomar-Leiden WW2 ACM 2014, Helsinki

  9. Discoverers of Numbered Objects ACM 2014, Helsinki

  10. Discoverers of NEOs ACM 2014, Helsinki

  11. Large(ish) NEA Discoveries: Flat ~365/year Galache et al 2014, submitted to PSS ACM 2014, Helsinki

  12. Monthly Sky Coverage ACM 2014, Helsinki

  13. Comets (Non SOHO/STEREO) ACM 2014, Helsinki

  14. Survey Upgrades • Catalina setting up a new 1m ‘scope for follow-up (soonish?). • Catalina’s 703 will double its FoV sometime next year. • Mount Lemmon’s G96 increasing FoV 4-5 times (timeframe?). More info: Eric Christensen • Pan-STARRS-1 already “upgraded” to 100% time for NEOs. • Pan-STARRS-2 in a few years? More info: Richard Wainscoat, maybe later in this session? ACM 2014, Helsinki

  15. Possible Future Surveys – Space • NEOCam: NEOWISE successor; dedicated NEO IR telescope to survey from Earth orbit. Detectors tested! More info: Amy Mainzer. • Sentinel: IR telescope to survey from Venus orbit. Will (maybe) be built by Ball Aerospace, financed by the B612 Foundation. ACM 2014, Helsinki

  16. Future Surveys – Earth • ATLAS: 0.5m f/2. FoV: 30deg2.Will scan sky (from Hawai’i) twice a night to Vlim = 20. To start in 2015. More info: John Tonry. • SST: Successor to LINEAR. 3.5m (or 3.6m) f /1. FoV: 6 deg2. Vlim= ██ . Uses 12 curved CCDs, 2048×4086 pixels each. Operational since 2011 observing Earth-orbiting satellites, soon to start submitting NEO observations. • LSST: 8.4m f/1.2. FoV: 9.6 deg2. Vlim = 24-25. Will observe many asteroids for sure, but discoveries will depend on cadence chosen (LSST cadence workshop coming up in August). To start in 2022. ACM 2014, Helsinki

  17. Self Follow-Up in the Future A great strategy…or the only strategy? ACM 2014, Helsinki

  18. Conclusions • NEO surveys discover mostly non-NEOs (40-70 per 1 NEO). • NEO surveys doing well—poised to do better after upgrades and new arrivals, increasing discoveries, though probably only for H > 22 NEOs. • Main Belt: We have good sky coverage, now we need to go fainter to push further and smaller into the MB. • TNOs: Still found mainly by specialised surveys. Michele and Scott will tell us more in the next two talks. • Characterisation: Just because I didn’t talk about it doesn’t mean it’s not important. I recommend: • Martin Elvis’s talk today at 5pm today in the Press Room: LINNAEUS: Boosting Near-Earth Asteroid characterization rates. • My poster (#11) tomorrow: The need for speed in Near-Earth Asteroid characterization. Shameless plug alert!!! ACM 2014, Helsinki

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