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The Classical and Large-a Distant Solar SYstem (CLASSY) Survey

Presentation #414.01 in the session Centaurs and KBOs: Observational Surveys (iPosters).

Published onOct 20, 2022
The Classical and Large-a Distant Solar SYstem (CLASSY) Survey

Here we introduce CLASSY: the Classical and Large-A Solar SYstem survey. This survey is a large program on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope that will use 56 nights in 2022B through 2024A inclusive. Using shift’n’stack techniques, CLASSY will survey 12.2 square degrees of the invariable plane to an anticipated depth of r=26.6 in search of Kuiper Belt Objects and extreme trans-Neptunian objects (eTNOs), the vast majority of which will be tracked to a second opposition. This survey has two primary goals: to provide observational tests of the cutting-edge planet formation models; and to test cosmogonic models of orbital emplacement. We will carefully measure the size-frequency distribution of classical TNOs for diameters 30≲D≲250 km (assuming 16% albedos). This size range is critical for determining properties of the streaming instability and cloud collapse mechanisms that formed TNOs because it spans between the size of the central bodies that formed from the streaming instability, and the detritus ejected during cloud collapse. Importantly, CLASSY is the first survey designed explicitly to avoid longitudinal discovery biases that may be present in the known eTNOs sample. In this presentation we will summarize some of the key properties of CLASSY and its operations, as well as present the first results from discovery observations in the August and September 2022 dark runs.

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