The 11 November 2021 multi-chord stellar occultation by trans-Neptunian object (119951) 2002 TC302
- 1Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), Glorieta de la Astronomía s/n, 18008 Granada, Spain (kretlow@iaa.es)
- 2LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Univ. Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 5 place Jules Janssen, F-92195 Meudon, France
- 3Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia - LIneA and INCT do e-Universo, Rua Gal. José Cristino 77, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 20921-400, Brazil
- 4Observatório Nacional/MCTI, R. General José Cristino 77, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 20.921-400, Brazil
- 5Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Observatório do Valongo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 6IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Université, Sorbonne Université, 77 Av. Denfert-Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France
- 7Institut Polytechnique des Sciences Avancées IPSA, 63 boulevard de Brandebourg, 94200 Ivry-sur-Seine, France
- 8Akdeniz University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Space Sciences and Technologies, 07058 Antalya, Turkey
- 9TÜBİTAK National Observatory, Akdeniz University Campus, 07058 Antalya, Turkey
- 10Federal University of Technology-Paraná (UTFPR/DAFIS), Curitiba, Brazil
- 11University of Central Florida, Florida Space Institute, Orlando, United States of America
- 12Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Laboratoire Lagrange UMR7293 CNRS, Nice, France
- 13naXys, University of Namur, 8 Rempart de la Vierge, Namur 5000, Belgium
- *A full list of authors appears at the end of the abstract
Centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are considered to be among the most pristine members of our solar system and carry plenty of information on the physical and dynamical processes that shaped our solar system.
Here we report the occultation observation of the star Gaia EDR3 133768513079427328 (G: 11.7 mag, R: 11.3 mag) by the TNO (119951) 2002 TC302 on November 11, 2021. The shadow path was predicted to cross central Europe and USA. We received a total of 57 observations reports, with at least 19 positive detections and 25 miss reports (no event detected).
2002 TC302 is a high-inclination (i ~ 35°) TNO in a 2:5 resonance with Neptune, orbiting the Sun in an average distance of about 55 au. The radiometric diameter from Herschel and Spitzer thermal observations is 584.1 (+106.5, -88.0) km [1], while the analysis of a multi-chord stellar occultation observed on 28 January 2018, combined with light curve data, revealed an area-equivalent diameter of 499.6 ± 10.2 km [2]. From our preliminary elliptical profile fit of the 11 November 2021 occultation observations we derived a projected area-equivalent diameter of 500.3 ± 2.5 km, which is consistent with the above mentioned value from the previous stellar occultation in 2018. The 2018 and 2021 occultation diameters are significant (about 84 km) smaller than the radiometric diameter, which might be even larger (D ~ 643 km) after a reanalysis of the Herschel data [3]. This discrepancy might indicate the existence of an unresolved satellite, but other possibilities are being considered as well [see also 2,3].
Acknowledgments: We acknowledge financial support from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the "Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa" award to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709). Funding from Spanish projects PID2020-112789GB-I00 from AEI and Proyecto de Excelencia de la Junta de Andalucía PY20-01309 is acknowledged. Part of the research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Community’s H2020 (2014-2020/ERC Grant Agreement no. 669416 “LUCKY STAR”). M.V-L. acknowledges funding from Spanish project AYA2017-89637-R (FEDER/MICINN). P.S-S. acknowledges financial support by the Spanish grant AYA-RTI2018-098657-J-I00 “LEO-SBNAF”.
References
[1] S. Fornasier, E. Lellouch, T. Müller, et al., A&A, 555 (2013) A15.
[2] J. L. Ortiz, P. Santos-Sanz, B. Sicardy, et al., A&A, 639 (2020) A134.
[3] J. L. Ortiz, and the 20-coauthor team, EPSC2020-686, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2020-686, 2020.
Observer (positive): Johnny Barton (Barton Observatory), John S. Gianforte (Blue Sky Observatory), Dennis Conti (Conti Private Observatory), M. Skrutskie (Earlysville, VA), Kevin Hartnett (Hartnett Home), Josselin Desmars + Kévin Baillié + Anne-Charlotte Perlbarg (Haute Provence), J. Soltis + Z. Rustamkulov + A. de la Vega (Maryland Space Grant Consortium Observatory), Christopher L Duston (Mendel Observatory, Merrimack College), Matthieu Conjat (Nice), Clif Ashcraft (Perrineville Observatory), P. Le Cam (Pressigny), George R Viscome (Rand Observatory II), Jean-Louis Dumont (SAT37), Andrew Scheck (ScheckDriveway), Mark Sproul (Skychariot), Cassidy Soloff + Kyle McGregor + Seth Redfield (Van Vleck Observatory), Lionel Rousselot (Vierzon), Kevin D. Green (Westport Astronomical Society), S. Conard (Willow Oak Observatory); Observer (negative): Miguel Sánchez González (Ad Astra), Sergio Alonso + Antonio Román (Armilla Observatory), A. Marciniak (Astronomical Observatory, Borowiec), Andras Pal + Robert Szakats + Csaba Kiss + Imre Barna Biro + Nora Takacs (Baja Astronomical Observatory), Daniel Bertesteanu + Marcel Popescu + Octavian Blagoi + Jad-Alexandru Mansour (Bucharest), C. Weber (C. Weber mobile station pl-01), Jürgen Burghard (Corona-Sternwarte Groß Schwülper), Ramón Iglesias-Marzoa + Miguel Chioare Díaz-Martín + José Luis Lamadrid Jiménez (Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory (OAJ)), D. Błażewicz (Kłaj - D Błażewicz's home), F. Casarramona (Las Negras), Oscar Canales + Ángel Rivera (Leciñena móvil), K. Getrost (Louisa), Barton Billard + Myron Wasiuta (Mark Slade Remote Observatory, Wilderness), Juan Collada Barcena (Monte de Deva (Gijón)), Joel Castro + Rosa Perez (N/A), Gregory A. Feiden + Joseph Froetschel + John Keiley (North Georgia Astronomical Observatory), Faustino Garcia (Observatorio La Vara, Valdes), Stefan Meister (Observatory Bülach), Víctor de Ory Guimerá + José Luis Gutiérrez Sacristán (Real Observatorio de la Armada (ROA)), Gregor Krannich (Roof Observatory Kaufering), Dr Salvador Aguirre (Salvador Aguirre), Olivier Schreurs (Schreurs O Home), T. Blank (TedBlankHome), Fernand Van Den Abbeel (Vesqueville); Observer (yet unknown result): R.Kelly (Bloomington Indiana USA), E. Fernandez-Garcia (San Pedro Martir); Observer (overcast): Luana Liberato (Caussols), Gyula M. Szabo + Andras Pal + Csaba Kiss + Robert Szakats (Gothard Observatory), Arnaud Leroy (Home), S. Fişek + S. Kaptan + O. Çakır (İstanbul University Observatory Application and Research Center (İST60)), M.Acar + A.Ateş (İSTEK Belde Observatory), S. Kalkan (Ondokuz Mayıs University Observatory), Andras Pal + Robert Szakats + Csaba Kiss + Nora Takacs (Piszkesteto Stn. (Konkoly)). [listed in alphabetical site name order]
How to cite: Kretlow, M., Ortiz, J. L., Sicardy, B., Braga-Ribas, F., Desmars, J., Fernández-Valenzuela, E., Morales, N., Santos-Sanz, P., Kilic, Y., Morgado, B., Benedetti-Rossi, G., Camargo, J., Rommel, F. L., Vara-Lubiano, M., Duffard, R., Assafin, M., Ramos Gomes Júnior, A., Souami, D., Vieira-Martins, R., and Álvarez-Candal, Á. and the 2002 TC302 occultation team: The 11 November 2021 multi-chord stellar occultation by trans-Neptunian object (119951) 2002 TC302 , Europlanet Science Congress 2022, Granada, Spain, 18–23 Sep 2022, EPSC2022-172, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2022-172, 2022.
