Dynamically Excited Outer Solar System Objects in the Hubble Space Telescope Archive

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of 29 new faint outer Solar System objects, including trans-Neptunian objects and a centaur, using the Hubble Space Telescope archive, expanding understanding of their distribution at mid ecliptic latitudes.

Contribution

It presents the faintest mid ecliptic latitude survey in the HST archive, discovering new objects and analyzing their inclination distribution, which aligns with brighter ecliptic surveys.

Findings

Discovered 28 trans-Neptunian objects and 1 centaur.

Inclination distribution matches brighter ecliptic surveys.

Highlights the need for consistent size and inclination distribution estimation.

Abstract

We present the faintest mid ecliptic latitude survey in the second part of HST archival search for outer Solar System bodies. We report the discovery of 28 new trans-Neptunian objects and 1 small centaur (R ~ 2km) in the band 5{\circ} - 20{\circ} off the ecliptic. The inclination distribution of these excited ob jects is consistent with the distribution derived from brighter ecliptic surveys. We suggest that the size and inclination distribution should be estimated consistently using suitable surveys with calibrated search algorithms and reliable orbital information.