Outer Solar System Origins Survey
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The Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS) is an
astronomical survey An astronomical survey is a general celestial cartography, map or astrophotography, image of a region of the sky (or of the whole sky) that lacks a specific observational target. Alternatively, an astronomical survey may comprise a set of image ...
and observing program aimed at discovering and tracking
trans-Neptunian object A trans-Neptunian object (TNO), also written transneptunian object, is any minor planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater average distance than Neptune, which has an orbital semi-major axis of 30.1 astronomical units (AU). ...
s located in the outermost regions of the
Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
beyond the orbit of
Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...
. OSSOS is designed in way that observational biases can be characterized, allowing the numbers and orbits of detected objects to be compared using a survey simulator to the populations predicted in dynamical simulations of the emplacement of trans-Neptunian objects. Conducted at the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope at
Mauna Kea Observatories The Mauna Kea Observatories (MKO) are a group of independent astronomical research facilities and large telescope observatories that are located at the summit of Mauna Kea on Hawaii (island), Hawaiʻi, United States. The facilities are located i ...
in Hawaii, the survey has discovered 39 numbered objects as of 2018, with potentially hundreds more to follow. The survey's first numbered discovery was the object in 2013.


Description

OSSOS observed eight blocks of the sky over a period of five years from 2013–2017 using the MegaPrime camera of the 3.6-meter Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Images of these blocks were taken near opposition (when the block is near opposite the sun), two months before, and two months after. This extended period of observation was designed to remove ephemeris bias which can cause the loss of some objects due to inaccurate predictions of their future positions. Pointing directions, detection efficiencies, and tracking frequencies were determined to allow other observational biases to be identified. These identified biases are used by the survey simulator developed by the OSSOS group. This survey simulator can estimate the populations of detected objects, for example those in resonances, and set upper limits for the classes of objects not detected. The survey simulator can also predict the number of object that would be detected by OSSOS given the output of dynamical models of the early Solar System, allowing the models to be statistically tested. OSSOS has detected 838 objects, bring the total objects detected by well characterized surveys to more than 1100. Among these objects are a possible
dwarf planet A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit around the Sun, massive enough to be hydrostatic equilibrium, gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve clearing the neighbourhood, orbital dominance like the ...
in a 9:2
resonance Resonance is a phenomenon that occurs when an object or system is subjected to an external force or vibration whose frequency matches a resonant frequency (or resonance frequency) of the system, defined as a frequency that generates a maximu ...
with
Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...
, and two objects in a 9:1 resonance with Neptune. Other resonant objects have been detected and their populations estimated. A previously identified 'kernel' in the cold classical Kuiper belt has been confirmed and other cold classical objects beyond the 2:1 resonance with Neptune have been identified. OSSOS detected 3 potential members of the
Haumea family The Haumea or Haumean family is the only identified Trans-Neptunian objects, trans-Neptunian collisional family; that is, the only group of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) with similar orbital parameters and spectra (nearly pure water-ice) that s ...
, but none of these were faint, indicating that the family has a shallow size distribution. Analysis of the size distribution of the scattering population revealed a break in its slope. The inclination distribution of these scattering objects had more with inclinations greater than 45 degrees than predicted using simulations that included only the known planets and the influence of the galaxy, but also fewer with inclinations between 15 and 30 degrees than predicted when
Planet Nine Planet Nine is a List of hypothetical Solar System objects, hypothetical ninth planet in the outer region of the Solar System. Its gravitational effects could explain the peculiar clustering of orbits for a group of extreme trans-Neptunian obj ...
was added to the simulations. Extreme trans-Neptunian objects ( eTNOs) have been found including one with a semi-major axis of 730  AU, , and seven other objects with semi-major axes greater than 150 AU and perihelia greater than 30 AU. After accounting for OSSOS's known biases the orbital elements of these objects are consist with a uniformly distributed population. Four scattered disk objects with high
perihelia An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides pertai ...
have been detected with semi-major axes smaller than nearby resonances, consistent with their escape during a slow grainy migration of Neptune. Closer to the Sun, 20 centaurs were found, none of which were active. The number of centaurs detected and their inclinantion distribution were consistent with a model of the early Solar System that included a slow, long range migration of Neptune. 65 of the smaller objects discovered by OSSOS were later observed using the
Subaru telescope is the telescope of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, located at the Mauna Kea Observatory on Hawaii. It is named after the open star cluster known in English as the Pleiades. It had the largest monolithic primary mirror in the ...
to determine the variability of their brightness. Operating in conjunction with OSSOS is the Colours of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (Col-OSSOS). Col-OSSOS observes OSSOS objects with red magnitudes brighter than 23.5 simultaneously using the Gemini-North and Canada-France-Hawaii telescopes. The simultaneous observation allows the colors of these object to be measured more accurately by removing variations in their brightness due to the rotation of the objects and changes in atmospheric conditions. These observations have revealed three surface types among the TNOs, and have identified numerous binaries including loosely bound neutrally colored 'blue binaries' that could have been pushed out into their current orbits during Neptune's migration. Among the dynamically excited populations the ratio of neutral to red objects has been estimated to be between 4:1 and 11:1. The inclination distributions were found to vary with color, with the red objects having lower inclinations. The Col-OSSOS team has also measured the color and light curve of
ʻOumuamua Oumuamua is the first confirmed interstellar object detected passing through the Solar System. Naming of comets#Current system, Formally designated 1I/2017 U1, it was discovered by Robert Weryk using the Pan-STARRS telescope at Haleakalā O ...
.


Team


Core members

The core members of the Outer Solar System Origin Survey are: * Brett J. Gladman – ''co-principal investigator, orbit analysis'' *
John J. Kavelaars J-John Kavelaars, better known as JJ Kavelaars (born 1966), is a Canadian astronomer who was part of a team that discovered several moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. He is also a discoverer of minor planets and an investigator on the ...
– ''co-principal investigator, data, discovery'' *
Jean-Marc Petit This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 num ...
– ''co-principal investigator, orbit analysis, survey simulator'' * Michele Bannister – ''data, discovery, telescope operations'', ''(see )'' * Stephen Gwyn – ''astrometric catalogue'', ''(see )'' * Kat Volk – ''orbit classification'' * Ying-Tung (Charles) Chen – ''data analysis'' * Mike Alexandersen – ''survey cadence & design''


Collaborators

Collaborators of the Outer Solar System Origin Survey are: * Andrew C. Becker * Susan D. Benecchi (née Kern) * Federica Bianco * Steven Bickerton * Ramon Brasser * Audrey C. Delsanti * Wesley Fraser * Mikael Granvik * Will Grundy * Aurelie Guilbert-Lepoutre * Amanda Sickafoose Gulbis * Daniel Hestroffer * Wing Ip * Marian Jakubik * Lynne Jones * Nathan Kaib * Pavlo Korsun * Simon Krughoff * Irina Kulyk * Pedro Lacerda * Sam Lawler * Matthew Lehner * Edward Lin * Tim Lister * Patryk Lykawka * Ruth Murray-Clay * Keith Noll ''(see )'' * Alex Parker * Nuno Peixinho * Rosemary Pike * Philippe Rousselot *
Megan Schwamb Megan E. Schwamb (born 1984) is an American astronomer and planetary scientist, and lecturer at Queen's University, Belfast. Schwamb has discovered and co-discovered several trans-Neptunian objects, and is involved with Citizen science projects ...
* Cory Shankman * Bruno Sicardy *
Scott Tremaine Scott Duncan Tremaine (born 1950) is a Canadian-born astrophysicist. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of London, the Royal Society of Canada and the National Academy of Sciences. Tremaine is widely regarded as one of the world's leading ast ...
* Pierre Vernazza ''(see )'' * Shiang-Yu Wang


List of numbered minor planets discovered by OSSOS


See also

* *
List of trans-Neptunian objects This is a list of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), which are minor planets in the Solar System that orbit the Sun at a greater distance on average than Neptune, that is, their orbit has a semi-major axis greater than 30.1 astronomical units (AU) ...


References


External links


Outer Solar System Origins Survey
website * , SETI Talks, Michele Bannister
Michele Bannister
at the ''Astronomy Research Centre'' (ARC) {{Portal bar, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System Astronomical surveys Astronomical discoveries by institution *