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[42.01] The discovery and recovery of Uranus XVIII-XX

M. Holman (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), B. Gladman (Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur), JJ Kavelaars (McMaster University), J.-M. Petit, H. Scholl (Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur), P. Nicholson, J. A. Burns (Cornell University)

In July 1999, we conducted a wide-field search for new satellites of Uranus and Neptune. Our search was motivated by the discovery of the first 2 irregular satellites of Uranus in 1997 (Gladman et al 1997, Nature, v 392, 897) in a cursory CCD search of the immediate vicinity of Uranus. Using the CFH12K mosaic camera on the 3.5-meter Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, we searched a substantial fraction of the Hill spheres of both planets to a 50% detection threshold of m_R = 24.3 ±0.3. Our effort uncovered three new Uranian satellite candidates, tens of Kuiper belt objects, but no Neptunian satellite candidates. After a concerted observational campaign to establish and refine the orbits of the new satellite candidates, these objects have now been designated Uranus XVIII (Prospero), XIX (Setebos), and XX (Stephano).

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: mholman@cfa.harvard.edu