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KBO Astrometry Using Small Telescopes
Astrophysics
French, Katheryn
CCD images of Makemake (2005 FY9), the second largest Kuiper Belt Object,
were taken with a 14-inch telescope during the summer of 2008. The position of
Makemake was found by comparing its position on the frames to UCAC2 stars in
the frame. Observations were limited by the tracking capabilities of the
telescopes and the airmass. It was found that the average right ascension
offset from the ephemeris was 0.0134 arcseconds with a root mean square of
0.3394 and the average declination offset was -0.3855 arcseconds with an rms of
0.4634. It is possible to do KBO astrometry with small telescopes, however
several hundred frames are required to equal the quality of observations on
larger telescopes.