NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2010B-0461
|
NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2010B-0461 |
|
PI: Chadwick Trujillo, Gemini Observatory - North, trujillo@gemini.edu
Address: Gemini Observatory, 670 N. Aohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720, USA
CoI: Scott Sheppard, Carnegie Institution of Washington (Terrestrial Magn.)
Title: Primordial Solar System Ices
Abstract:
The Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) may harbor the least thermally-altered
material in the solar system and are thought to be remnants of the
planet-forming era. Thus, study of their surfaces may lead to insights into
the composition and formation process of planets in our solar system. We
propose to finish the first KBO photometric survey sensitive to volatile ices
using a set of custom bandpass filters. In the past, JHK broadband colors of
KBOs have been collected by many researchers with inconclusive results
because such filters are tuned to avoid telluric features and bear only weak
correlations to absorption features found on the brightest KBOs. We have
designed custom bandpass filters that allow the classification of KBOs into
water, methane and featureless surface types. These filters were installed
and commissioned in 2008B for use at Gemini with NIRI and at Magellan with
PANIC. We propose to complete our survey. The survey is the first of its kind
and will identify many more KBOs with volatiles than any previous spectral or
photometric work.
National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, Arizona 85726, Phone: (520) 318-8000, Fax: (520) 318-8360
|
NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2010B-0461 |
|