Discovery of the Bright Trans-Neptunian Object 2000 EB173

Abstract

We describe the discovery circumstances and photometric properties of 2000 EB173, now one of the brightest trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) with opposition magnitude m_R=18.9 and also one of the largest Plutinos, found with the drift-scanning camera of the QUEST Collaboration, attached to the 1-m Schmidt telescope of the National Observatory of Venezuela. We measure B-V = 0.99 +/- 0.14 and V-R = 0.57 +/- 0.05, a red color observed for many fainter TNOs. At our magnitude limit m_R = 20.1 +/- 0.20, our single detection reveals a sky density of 0.015 (+0.034, -0.012) TNOs per deg^2 (the error bars are 68% confidence limits), consistent with fainter surveys showing a cumulative number proportional to 10^0.5m_R. Assuming an inclination distribution of TNOs with FWHM exceeding 30 deg, it is likely that one hundred to several hundred objects brighter than m_R=20.1 remain to be discovered.

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• The Bimodal Colors of Centaurs and Small Kuiper Belt Objects
• Reanalyzing the visible colors of Centaurs and KBOs: what is there and what we might be missing
• Large Bodies in the Kuiper Belt
• Photometric Light Curve for the Kuiper Belt Object 2000 EB173 on 78 Nights
• A Large Area CCD Camera for the Schmidt Telescope at the Venezuelan National Astronomical Observatory
• Absolute magnitudes and phase coefficients of trans-Neptunian objects
• The Diverse Solar Phase Curves of Distant Icy Bodies. II. The Cause of the Opposition Surges and Their Correlations
• Physical properties of the trans-Neptunian object (38628) Huya from a multi-chord stellar occultation