[Previous] | [Session 6] | [Next]
R. L. Millis, M. W. Buie, L. H. Wasserman (Lowell Observatory), J. L. Elliot, S. D. Kern (MIT), R. M. Wagner (LBT Observatory), E. Chiang (UC Berkeley), D. Trilling (U Penn.)
We are conducting a survey of the Kuiper Belt using the 4-m telescopes and MOSAIC cameras at KPNO and CTIO. This program has resulted in the discovery of well over 200 KBOs and Centaurs including 28978 = 2001 KX76, the intrinsically brightest KBO (Millis, et al., IAUC 7657, 2001); 1998 WW31, subsequently found to be a binary (Veillet, IAUC 7610, 2001); 2000 CR105, a scattered disk object with a perihelion distance of at least 44 AU (Gladman, et al., Science News 159, 213, 2001); and 2000 OO67, a scattered disk object with an aphelion distance in excess of 1000 AU (Marsden, MPEC P43, 2001). Beginning with semester 2001B, this program has been granted survey status at the national observatories and will receive 20 nights per year for the next 3 years. In this paper, we will summarize the results to date from the survey, discuss plans for dissemination of the survey data and results, highlight certain problems we are facing, and propose ways in which the community can cooperate to increase the overall productivity of Kuiper Belt searches.
This work is supported at Lowell Observatory by NASA Grants NAG5-8990 and NAG5-11058 and at MIT by NASA Grant NAG5-10444.