The Canada-France Ecliptic Plane Survey (CFEPS) - High Latitude Component

TL;DR

This study extends the CFEPS survey to high ecliptic latitudes, discovering high-inclination TNOs, constraining the inclination distribution of the Kuiper Belt, and identifying the first retrograde TNO with an almost polar orbit.

Contribution

It provides the first high-latitude survey data for TNOs, significantly constraining the inclination distribution and discovering the first retrograde trans-Neptunian object.

Findings

Strong constraint on the inclination distribution of the hot Kuiper Belt component.

Discovered the first retrograde TNO with an almost polar orbit.

Identified a scattering object with perihelion near Saturn's influence.

Abstract

We report the orbital distribution of the Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) discovered during the High Ecliptic Latitude (HiLat) extension of the Canada-France Ecliptic Plane Survey (CFEPS), conducted from June 2006 to July 2009. The HiLat component was designed to address one of the shortcomings of ecliptic surveys (like CFEPS), their lack of sensitivity to high-inclination objects. We searched 701~deg$^2$ of sky ranging from 12$^\circ$ to 85$^\circ$ ecliptic latitude and discovered \lKBO TNOs, with inclinations between 15$^\circ$ to 104$^\circ$. This survey places a very strong constraint on the inclination distribution of the hot component of the classical Kuiper Belt, ruling out any possibility of a large intrinsic fraction of highly inclined orbits. Using the parameterization of \citet{2001AJ....121.2804B}, the HiLat sample combined with CFEPS imposes a width $14^\circ \le \sigma \le 15.5^\circ$, with a best match for $\sigma = 14.5^\circ$. HiLat discovered the first retrograde TNO, 2008~KV$_{42}$, with an almost polar orbit with inclination 104$^\circ$, and (418993), a scattering object with perihelion in the region of Saturn's influence, with $a \sim 400$~AU and $i = 68^\circ$.