(Proposal ID) S13B-103

(PI) Sheppard, Scott

(Proposal Title)
Beyond the Kuiper Belt Edge

(Abstract)
Of the thousands of known objects beyond Neptune, only one has a perihelion 
significantly beyond 50 AU, Sedna at 75 AU. Most Kuiper Belt surveys to date 
either did not go faint enough, did not have the required long cadence to 
detect very slow moving objects or covered too small of an area of sky to 
efficiently detect objects beyond 50 AU. The dynamical and physical properties 
of objects in this region offer key constraints on the formation and evolution 
of our solar system. In order to probe the Sedna like population of objects 
with moderate radii (100 km) we are conducting a deep wide-field outer solar 
system survey. This survey will allow us to determine if the objects beyond 50 
AU are fainter than expected, if there is truly a dearth of objects, or if the 
Kuiper Belt continues again after some sizable gap possibly caused by a planet 
sized object. We will be able to examine the origin of Sedna and determine if 
it is unique (as once believed for Pluto) or one of a new class of object. We 
request one night in 2013B to recover a very interesting object that we 
discovered at Subaru in July 2012 and complete the sky coverage needed to 
constrain the Sedna-like population. This one night was awarded to us in 2012B 
but lost because of instrument problems.