A TNO Survey Project with the 2.2m Telescope at ESO La Silla

Abstract

We propose a wide-shallow TNO search to be done with the Wide Field Imager (WFI) instrument at the 2.2m MPG/ESO telescope in La Silla/Chile. The WFI is a half-deg camera equipped with an 8kx8k CCD (0.24 arcsec/pixel). It was used in 1999 to run a pilot project for a TNO search. Using the images of typically 24mag limiting brightness and an automatic detection software (developed at ESO Chile) it was possible to discover 6 TNOs in a small search area of 1.5 sdeg. The project is now continued on a somewhat larger scale in order to discover more TNOs in a systematic way and to reach operational status for a full on-line detection of the objects as well as astrometric and photometric reduction at the telescope. The final goal is to perform a survey of a major part of the sky (typically 2000 sdeg in and out of the ecliptic) down to 24mag. Follow-up astrometry and photometry of the expected more than 3000 discovered objects will secure their orbital and physical characterisation for synoptic dynamical and taxonomic studies of the transneptunian population.