The DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project (DEEP). II. Observational Strategy and Design
We present the DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project (DEEP) survey strategy, including observing cadence for orbit determination, exposure times, field pointings and filter choices. The overall goal of the survey is to discover and characterize the orbits of a few thousand Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2024-01-01
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| Series: | The Astronomical Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad1523 |
| _version_ | 1797293723643543552 |
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| author | Chadwick A. Trujillo Cesar Fuentes David W. Gerdes Larissa Markwardt Scott S. Sheppard Ryder Strauss Colin Orion Chandler William J. Oldroyd David E. Trilling Hsing Wen Lin Fred C. Adams Pedro H. Bernardinelli Matthew J. Holman Mario Jurić Andrew McNeill Michael Mommert Kevin J. Napier Matthew J. Payne Darin Ragozzine Andrew S. Rivkin Hilke Schlichting Hayden Smotherman |
| author_facet | Chadwick A. Trujillo Cesar Fuentes David W. Gerdes Larissa Markwardt Scott S. Sheppard Ryder Strauss Colin Orion Chandler William J. Oldroyd David E. Trilling Hsing Wen Lin Fred C. Adams Pedro H. Bernardinelli Matthew J. Holman Mario Jurić Andrew McNeill Michael Mommert Kevin J. Napier Matthew J. Payne Darin Ragozzine Andrew S. Rivkin Hilke Schlichting Hayden Smotherman |
| author_sort | Chadwick A. Trujillo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We present the DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project (DEEP) survey strategy, including observing cadence for orbit determination, exposure times, field pointings and filter choices. The overall goal of the survey is to discover and characterize the orbits of a few thousand Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory Blanco 4 m telescope. The experiment is designed to collect a very deep series of exposures totaling a few hours on sky for each of several 2.7 square degree DECam fields-of-view to achieve approximate depths of magnitude 26.2 using a wide V R filter that encompasses both the V and R bandpasses. In the first year, several nights were combined to achieve a sky area of about 34 square degrees. In subsequent years, the fields have been re-visited to allow TNOs to be tracked for orbit determination. When complete, DEEP will be the largest survey of the outer solar system ever undertaken in terms of newly discovered object numbers, and the most prolific at producing multiyear orbital information for the population of minor planets beyond Neptune at 30 au. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T21:19:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cc9d6017c8224ab2872607778ebe619d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1538-3881 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T21:19:18Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astronomical Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-cc9d6017c8224ab2872607778ebe619d2024-02-27T17:07:00ZengIOP PublishingThe Astronomical Journal1538-38812024-01-01167313310.3847/1538-3881/ad1523The DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project (DEEP). II. Observational Strategy and DesignChadwick A. Trujillo0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9859-0894Cesar Fuentes1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5211-0020David W. Gerdes2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6942-2736Larissa Markwardt3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2486-1118Scott S. Sheppard4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3145-8682Ryder Strauss5https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6350-807XColin Orion Chandler6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7335-1715William J. Oldroyd7https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5750-4953David E. Trilling8https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4580-3790Hsing Wen Lin9https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7737-6784Fred C. Adams10https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8167-1767Pedro H. Bernardinelli11https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0743-9422Matthew J. Holman12https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1139-4880Mario Jurić13https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1996-9252Andrew McNeill14Michael Mommert15https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8132-778XKevin J. Napier16https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4827-5049Matthew J. Payne17https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5133-6303Darin Ragozzine18https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1080-9770Andrew S. Rivkin19https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9939-9976Hilke Schlichting20https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0298-8089Hayden Smotherman21https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7895-4344Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , PO Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA ; chad.trujillo@nau.eduDepartamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile , Camino del Observatorio 1515, Las Condes, Santiago, ChileDepartment of Physics, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 481109, USA; Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 481109, USADepartment of Physics, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 481109, USAEarth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science , Washington, DC 20015, USADepartment of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , PO Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA ; chad.trujillo@nau.eduDepartment of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , PO Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA ; chad.trujillo@nau.edu; DiRAC Institute and the Department of Astronomy, University of Washington , Seattle, WA, USA; LSST Interdisciplinary Network for Collaboration and Computing , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USADepartment of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , PO Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA ; chad.trujillo@nau.eduDepartment of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , PO Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA ; chad.trujillo@nau.eduDepartment of Physics, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 481109, USADepartment of Physics, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 481109, USA; Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 481109, USADiRAC Institute and the Department of Astronomy, University of Washington , Seattle, WA, USAHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , 60 Garden Street, MS 51, Cambridge, MA 02138, USADiRAC Institute and the Department of Astronomy, University of Washington , Seattle, WA, USADepartment of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , PO Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA ; chad.trujillo@nau.edu; Department of Physics, Lehigh University , 16 Memorial Drive East, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USASchool of Computer Science, University of St. Gallen , Rosenbergstrasse 30, CH-9000 St. Gallen, SwitzerlandDepartment of Physics, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 481109, USAHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , 60 Garden Street, MS 51, Cambridge, MA 02138, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University , Provo, UT 84602, USAApplied Physics Lab, Johns Hopkins University , 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723, USADepartment of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences, University of California Los Angeles , 595 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USADiRAC Institute and the Department of Astronomy, University of Washington , Seattle, WA, USAWe present the DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project (DEEP) survey strategy, including observing cadence for orbit determination, exposure times, field pointings and filter choices. The overall goal of the survey is to discover and characterize the orbits of a few thousand Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory Blanco 4 m telescope. The experiment is designed to collect a very deep series of exposures totaling a few hours on sky for each of several 2.7 square degree DECam fields-of-view to achieve approximate depths of magnitude 26.2 using a wide V R filter that encompasses both the V and R bandpasses. In the first year, several nights were combined to achieve a sky area of about 34 square degrees. In subsequent years, the fields have been re-visited to allow TNOs to be tracked for orbit determination. When complete, DEEP will be the largest survey of the outer solar system ever undertaken in terms of newly discovered object numbers, and the most prolific at producing multiyear orbital information for the population of minor planets beyond Neptune at 30 au.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad1523Kuiper BeltSmall Solar System bodiesTrans-Neptunian objectsSurveysSolar system |
| spellingShingle | Chadwick A. Trujillo Cesar Fuentes David W. Gerdes Larissa Markwardt Scott S. Sheppard Ryder Strauss Colin Orion Chandler William J. Oldroyd David E. Trilling Hsing Wen Lin Fred C. Adams Pedro H. Bernardinelli Matthew J. Holman Mario Jurić Andrew McNeill Michael Mommert Kevin J. Napier Matthew J. Payne Darin Ragozzine Andrew S. Rivkin Hilke Schlichting Hayden Smotherman The DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project (DEEP). II. Observational Strategy and Design The Astronomical Journal Kuiper Belt Small Solar System bodies Trans-Neptunian objects Surveys Solar system |
| title | The DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project (DEEP). II. Observational Strategy and Design |
| title_full | The DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project (DEEP). II. Observational Strategy and Design |
| title_fullStr | The DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project (DEEP). II. Observational Strategy and Design |
| title_full_unstemmed | The DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project (DEEP). II. Observational Strategy and Design |
| title_short | The DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project (DEEP). II. Observational Strategy and Design |
| title_sort | decam ecliptic exploration project deep ii observational strategy and design |
| topic | Kuiper Belt Small Solar System bodies Trans-Neptunian objects Surveys Solar system |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad1523 |
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