HST Astrometry of Transneptunian Objects

TL;DR

This paper reports extensive HST astrometric measurements of 256 Transneptunian objects, significantly extending their observational arc lengths and improving orbital data accuracy.

Contribution

Provides a large set of high-precision astrometric data for Transneptunian objects, enhancing their orbital tracking and analysis.

Findings

Increased the observational arc length for many objects.

Enhanced orbital data accuracy for 24.2% of objects.

Significantly extended the tracking duration for numerous TNOs.

Abstract

We present 1428 individual astrometric measurements of 256 Transneptunian objects made with HST. The observations were collected over three years with two instruments, the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys High Resolution Camera, as part of four HST programs. We briefly describe the data and our analysis procedures. The submission of these measurements to the Minor Planet Center increased the individual arc length of objects by 1.83 days to 8.11 years. Of the 256 total objects, 62 (24.2%) had arc length increases \ge 3 years. The arc length for 60 objects (23.4%) was increased by a factor of two or greater.