Overview

Survey observations using the Subaru Telescope's ultra-widefield prime focus camera have revealed that there may be a population of small bodies further out in the Kuiper Belt waiting to be discovered. The results, which are important for understanding the formation of the Solar System, were obtained through an international collaboration between the Subaru Telescope and the New Horizons spacecraft traveling through the outer Solar System. These results will be published in two scientific papers in the Planetary Science Journal, Buie et al. 2024 "The New Horizons Extended Mission Target: Arrokoth Search and Discovery" and Fraser et al. 2024 "Candidate Distant Trans-Neptunian Objects Detected by the New Horizons Subaru TNO Survey". Associate Professor Takashi Ito of the Center for Computational Astrophysics (CfCA) also contributed to this research. For more information, please read the Subaru Telescope's webpage. (September 5, 2024)

Figure 1LFigure 1: The Subaru Telescope (left) and New Horizons spacecraft (right). (Credit: NAOJ/Southwest Research Institute)
Download: [PNG (2.5 MB)]

Figure 2: Figure 2: Distance distribution of Kuiper Belt objects discovered by HSC. The horizontal axis represents the distance from the Sun to the objects, measured in astronomical units (au; the distance between the Earth and the Sun). The vertical axis represents the number of objects. (Credit: Wesley Fraser)
Download: [JPG (83 KB)]

Researcher's comments

The Subaru Telescope has been collaborating with the New Horizons space program since before the launch of the spacecraft to conduct ground-based observations in support of the mission. I joined the ground-based observation team in the spring of 2020. During the past few years of intensive observations, we have discovered about 240 small objects in the outermost reaches of our Solar System. More will come in the future as the observation and data analysis continue. These discoveries have shown us that the Solar System is much more extended than previously thought, but they have also opened the way for various studies on the formation and evolution of the Solar System. I am involved in a series of observations, and at the same time, I am trying to develop theoretical models that can explain the results obtained from these observations. This will be where CfCA's computing facility comes into play. I feel honored to be a member of the New Horizons space program, and I also feel an obligation to keep producing research achievements that live up to this honor.
(Takashi Ito, CfCA/NAOJ)

Publication Information

Title: "The New Horizons Extended Mission Target: Arrokoth Search and Discovery"
Authors: Brie et al.
Journal: Planetary Science Journal
DOI: 10.3847/PSJ/ad676d

Title: "Candidate Distant Trans-Neptunian Objects Detected by the New Horizons Subaru TNO Survey"
Authors: Fraser et al.
Journal: Planetary Science Journal
DOI:

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Structure of the Outer Solar System Revealed - The Subaru Telescope and New Horizons' 20-Year Challenge

Overview

Researcher's comments

Publication Information

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