Bernardinelli, PH;
Bernstein, GM;
Sako, M;
Liu, T;
Saunders, WR;
Khain, T;
Lin, HW;
... Zhang, Y; + view all
(2020)
Trans-Neptunian Objects Found in the First Four Years of the Dark Energy Survey.
The Astrophysical Journal
, 247
(1)
, Article 32. 10.3847/1538-4365/ab6bd8.
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Abstract
We present a catalog of 316 trans-Neptunian bodies (TNOs) detected from the first four seasons ("Y4" data) of the Dark Energy Survey (DES). The survey covers a contiguous 5000 deg^{2} of the southern sky in the grizY optical/NIR filter set, with a typical TNO in this part of the sky being targeted by 25–30 Y4 exposures. This paper focuses on the methods used to detect these objects from the ≈60,000 Y4 exposures, a process made challenging by the absence of the few-hour repeat observations employed by TNO-optimized surveys. Newly developed techniques include: transient/moving object detection by comparison of single-epoch catalogs to catalogs of "stacked" images; quantified astrometric error from atmospheric turbulence; new software for detecting TNO linkages in a temporally sparse transient catalog, and for estimating the rate of spurious linkages; use of faint stars to determine the detection efficiency versus magnitude in all exposures. Final validation of the reality of linked orbits uses a new "sub-threshold confirmation" test, wherein we demand the object be detectable in a stack of the exposures in which the orbit indicates an object should be present, but was not individually detected. This catalog contains all validated TNOs which were detected on ≥6 unique nights in the Y4 data, and is complete to r lesssim 23.3 mag with virtually no dependence on orbital properties for bound TNOs at distance 30 au < d < 2500 au. The catalog includes 245 discoveries by DES, 139 not previously published. The final DES TNO catalog is expected to yield >0.3 mag more depth, and arcs of >4 yr for nearly all detections.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Trans-Neptunian Objects Found in the First Four Years of the Dark Energy Survey |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3847/1538-4365/ab6bd8 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/ab6bd8 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10094328 |
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