A Wide-Field CCD Survey for Centaurs and Kuiper Belt Objects

A modified Baker-Nunn camera was used to conduct a wide-field survey of 1428square degrees of sky near the ecliptic in search of bright Kuiper Belt objectsand Centaurs. This area is an order of magnitude larger than any previouslypublished CCD survey for Centaurs and Kuiper Belt Objects. No new objectsbrighter than red magnitude m=18.8 and moving at a rate 1"/hr to 20"/hr werediscovered, although one previously discovered Centaur 1997 CU26 Chariklo wasserendipitously detected. The parameters of the survey were characterized usingboth visual and automated techniques. From this survey the empirical projectedsurface density of Centaurs was found to be SigmaCentaur(m<18.8)=7.8(+16.0-6.6)x10^-4 per square degree and we found a projected surface density 3sigmaupper confidence limit for Kuiper Belt objects of SigmaKBO(m< 18.8)<4.1x10^-3per square degree. We discuss the current state of the cumulative luminosityfunctions of both Centaurs and Kuiper Belt objects. Through a Monte Carlosimulation we show that the size distribution of Centaurs is consistent with aq=4 differential power law, similar to the size distribution of the parentKuiper Belt Objects. The Centaur population is of order 10^7 (radius > 1 km)assuming a geometric albedo of 0.04. About 100 Centaurs are larger than 50 kmin radius, of which only 4 are presently known. The current total mass of theCentaurs is 10^-4 Earth Masses. No dust clouds were detected resulting fromKuiper Belt object collisions, placing a 3sigma upper limit <600 collisionallyproduced clouds of m<18.8 per year.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for Publication in A