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Deep Ecliptic Survey

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Minor planets discovered: 6
19521 Chaos November 19, 1998
28978 Ixion May 22, 2001
38083 Rhadamanthus April 17, 1999
(42301) 2001 UR163 October 21, 2001
53311 Deucalion April 18, 1999
54598 Bienor August 27, 2000

The Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES) is a project to find Kuiper belt objects (KBOs), using the facilities of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO).

The principal investigator is Bob Millis. Since 1998 through the end of 2003, the survey covered 550 square degrees with sensitivity of 22.5. I.e., an estimated 50% of objects of this magnitude have been found.

The survey has also established the mean Kuiper Belt plane and introduced new formal definitions of the dynamical classes of Kuiper belt objects.[1]

The remarkable discoveries include:[2]

References

  1. ^ J. L. Elliot, S. D. Kern, K. B. Clancy, A. A. S. Gulbis, R. L. Millis, M. W. Buie, L. H. Wasserman, E. I. Chiang, A. B. Jordan, D. E. Trilling, and K. J. Meech The Deep Ecliptic Survey: A Search for Kuiper Belt Objects and Centaurs. II. Dynamical Classification, the Kuiper Belt Plane, and the Core Population. The Astronomical Journal, 129 (2006), pp. preprint
  2. ^ Buie, M W; Millis, R L; Wasserman, L H; Elliot, J L; Kern, S D; Clancy, K B; Chiang, E I; Jordan, A B; Meech, K J; Wagner, R M; Trilling, D E Procedures, resources and selected results of the Deep Ecliptic Earth, Moon, and Planets, 92 (June 2003) Preprint on arXiv