A Photographic Search for Satellites of Uranus

✍ Scribed by Anna N. Zytkow; Mike Irwin; Rachel Webster; Scott Tremaine

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 783 KB
• Volume: 102
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0019-1035
• DOI: 10.1006/icar.1993.1050

✦ Synopsis

We have searched for satellites of Uranus in a (3^{\circ} \times 3^{\circ}) square region centered on the planet. This region is large enough to contain all satellites orbiting within the Jacobi limit (r_{\mathrm{J}}=\left(M_{\mathrm{p}} / 3 M_{\odot}\right)^{1 / 3} a), where (M_{\mathrm{p}}) and (M_{\odot}) are the planetary and solar masses and (a) is the planet's semimajor axis. The search was carried out using IIIaJ sky-limited plates taken at the UK Schmidt Telescope and analyzed using the APM Facility in Cambridge. The search is (\sim 80 %) complete for satellites brighter than (B_{\mathrm{J}}=21.0), rising to (\sim 95 %) completeness for satellites brighter than (B_{\mathrm{J}}=\mathbf{2 0 . 6}). The completeness is a strong function of magnitude, rising from 6 to (95 %) over only 0.7 magnitudes. No satellites or slow-moving objects were detected, although numerous asteroids, both cataloged and uncataloged, were found. 1993 Academic Press, Inc.