On the use of Cherenkov Telescopes for outer Solar system body occultations

Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) are arrays of very large optical telescopes that are well-suited for rapid photometry of bright sources. I investigate their potential in observing stellar occultations by small objects in the outer Solar system, Transjovian Objects (TJOs). These occu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2014-12, Vol.445 (2), p.1858-1858
Main Author: Lacki, Brian C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arrays
Astronomy
Atmospherics
Diffraction
Kuiper Belt
Kuiper Belt Objects
Occultation
Outer solar system
Photometry
Populations
Sensitivity analysis
Solar system
Space telescopes
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Summary:Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) are arrays of very large optical telescopes that are well-suited for rapid photometry of bright sources. I investigate their potential in observing stellar occultations by small objects in the outer Solar system, Transjovian Objects (TJOs). These occultations cast diffraction patterns on the Earth. Current IACT arrays are capable of detecting objects smaller than 100 m in radius in the Kuiper Belt and 1 km radius out to 5000 au. The future Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will have even greater capabilities. Because the arrays include several telescopes, they can potentially measure the speeds of TJOs without degeneracies, and the sizes of the TJOs and background stars. I estimate the achievable precision using a Fisher matrix analysis. With CTA, the precisions of these parameter estimations will be as good as a few per cent. I consider how often detectable occultations occur by members of different TJO populations, including Centaurs, Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), Oort Cloud objects, and satellites and Trojans of Uranus and Neptune. The great sensitivity of IACT arrays means that they likely detect KBO occultations once every ... (10) hours when looking near the ecliptic. IACTs can also set useful limits on many other TJO populations. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)
ISSN:0035-8711
1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stu1800