Census of the Kuiper-Belt Objects - The Taiwan-America Occultation Survey (TAOS)

Abstract

More than two hundred transneptunian Kuiper-Belt Objects (KBOs) have so far been identified. Because of their large distances from the Sun, and their intrinsically small sizes, only the largest members (diameters more than 100 km) can be observed by direct imaging with large telescopes. Even smaller KBOs, though expected to be more numerous on theoretical grounds, cannot be seen directly unless they happen to block out the light from background stars. The Taiwan-America Occultation Survey (TAOS) project is a collaboration among the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (USA), Academia Sinica, National Central University (both of Taiwan), and other institutes, that aims to measure the frequency of such chance stellar occultations, and thereby conduct the census of the Kuiper-Belt population down to a few kilometer sizes. An array of robotic telescopes are being set up in central Taiwan to monitor the brightness variation of several thousand stars at a rate of a few Hz. Observations will be operated in a synchronized and coincidence mode, so the sequence and timing of any candidate occultation event can be recorded and distinguished against a false detection. The full survey is expected to start in the fall of 2000.