On the observation of Solar System Small Bodies with the SST telescopes
Eduardo Caetano (1,3) Laurindo Sobrinho (1,2,3)
(1) Faculdade de Ciências Exatas e da Engenharia (FCEE), Universidade da Madeira, Caminho da Penteada, 9000-390 Funchal
(2) Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Universidade de Lisboa, OAL, Tapada da Ajuda, PT1349-018 Lisboa, Portugal
(3) Grupo de Astronomia da Universidade da Madeira (GAUMa)The project Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) aims to do the monitoring and tracking of space debris in Earth's orbit. At Pico do Areeiro on the Madeira Autonomous Region the project has two optical telescopes: one for tracking operations and the other for surveillance operations. Although these telescopes are dedicated to the detection of space debris, they can be used in the field of Observational Astronomy. In this work we discuss the observation of Solar System Small Bodies (SSSBs) using the SST telescopes. After doing a survey of the main SSSBs belonging to different groups according to their orbital characteristics (Atiras, Amors, Atens, Apollos, Main Belt, Trojans, Centaurs, Transneptunians and Plutinos) we determine, for a selection of them, the SST telescopes exposure times. At the end we present an observation proposal for nine of the considered objects. We concluded that the capabilities of the SST equipments are well enough to observe and track most of the considered objects and dwarf planets as well.
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Relatório On the observation of Solar System Small Bodies with the SST telescopes; Caetano E. H. O., Sobrinho J. L. G. (2021); Relatório do trabalho desenvolvido ao abrigo do programa Estágios de Verão 2023 da Secretaria Regional da Educação - Direção Regional de Juventude e Desporto, 18 pp; Universidade da Madeira 2023. pdf (308 kB)