The Outer Solar System Origins Survey: I. Design and First-Quarter Discoveries
Michele T. Bannister, J. J. Kavelaars, Jean-Marc Petit, Brett J., Gladman, Stephen D. J. Gwyn, Ying-Tung Chen, Kathryn Volk, Mike Alexandersen,, Susan Benecchi, Audrey Delsanti, Wesley Fraser, Mikael Granvik, Will M., Grundy, Aurelie Guilbert-Lepoutre, Daniel Hestroffer

TL;DR
The OSSOS survey discovered and precisely tracked 85 trans-Neptunian objects, confirming the existence of a cold classical Kuiper belt kernel and extending our understanding of TNO distributions with bias-free data.
Contribution
This paper presents the first results from OSSOS, including a novel astrometric technique for precise orbit determination and bias-free TNO discoveries, enhancing models of the Kuiper belt.
Findings
Confirmed the cold classical Kuiper belt kernel.
Extended the cold classical Kuiper belt beyond the 2:1 resonance.
Supported the plausibility of the Petit et al. (2011) population model.
Abstract
We report the discovery, tracking and detection circumstances for 85 trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) from the first 42 deg of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS). This ongoing -band Solar System survey uses the 0.9 deg field-of-view MegaPrime camera on the 3.6 m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Our orbital elements for these TNOs are precise to a fractional semi-major axis uncertainty . We achieve this precision in just two oppositions, as compared to the normal 3-5 oppositions, via a dense observing cadence and innovative astrometric technique. These discoveries are free of ephemeris bias, a first for large trans-Neptunian surveys. We also provide the necessary information to enable models of TNO orbital distributions to be tested against our TNO sample. We confirm the existence of a cold "kernel" of objects within the main cold classical Kuiper belt, and…
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Taxonomy
TopicsAstro and Planetary Science · Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils · Planetary Science and Exploration
