Discovery of a New Member of the Inner Oort Cloud from The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey

Abstract

We report the discovery of 2010 GB${}_{174}$, a likely new member of the Inner Oort Cloud (IOC). 2010 GB${}_{174}$ is one of 91 Trans Neptunian Objects (TNOs) and Centaurs discovered in a 76 deg${}^2$ contiguous region imaged as part of the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) --- a moderate ecliptic latitude survey reaching a mean limiting magnitude of $g^{\prime }\simeq 25.5$ --- using MegaPrime on the 3.6m Canada France Hawaii Telescope. 2010 GB${}_{174}$ is found to have an orbit with semi-major axis $a\simeq 350.8$ AU, inclination $i\simeq 21.6^{\circ }$ and pericentre $q\sim 48.5$ AU. This is the second largest perihelion distance among known solar system objects. Based on the sky coverage and depth of the NGVS, we estimate the number of IOC members with sizes larger than 300 km ($H_V\le 6.2$ mag) to be $\simeq 11000$. A comparison of the detection rate from the NGVS and the PDSSS (a characterized survey that `re-discovered' the IOC object Sedna) gives, for an assumed a power-law LF for IOC objects, a slope of $\hat{I}\pm \simeq 0.7\pm 0.2$, with only two detections in this region this slope estimate is highly uncertain.

20 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters