TNO Search Field Deep Images

The "TNO Search Field" images are the sidereally summed images of a search for trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) using the Wide Field Camera of the HST/ACS instrument. The observations were taken under Cycle 11 program GO-9433, "The Size Distribution of Kuiper Belt Bodies," with G. Bernstein as PI. A paper on the program results have been accepted by AJ (astro-ph/0308467)

The TNO search consisted of approximately 96x400 s exposures in the F606W filter for each of six contiguous ACS fields of view. The exposures were spread over a 15-day period in Jan-Feb 2003, with a complex sequence optimized for the discovery of the slowly-moving TNOs. The TNO detection process requires the subtraction of all sidereally fixed sources (stars and galaxies) from each image, followed by summation and point-source detection along all candidate TNO orbits. The images available herein are the sidereal-image templates that were subtracted from the search-field exposures. These were produced by averaging, with sidereal registration, all of the available exposure time from the program. More information is contained in the "ReadMe" file in the anonymous ftp area.

There are seven FITS files available:

h_tnoALL50_img.fits - A mosaic of the entire survey area, on 0.050" pixels
and there are six more finely pixellized images:
h_tnoA25_img.fits - The subregion "A" of the mosaic, on 0.025" pixels
h_tnoB25_img.fits - The subregion "B" of the mosaic, on 0.025" pixels
h_tnoC25_img.fits - The subregion "C" of the mosaic, on 0.025" pixels
h_tnoD25_img.fits - The subregion "D" of the mosaic, on 0.025" pixels
h_tnoE25_img.fits - The subregion "E" of the mosaic, on 0.025" pixels
h_tnoF25_img.fits - The subregion "F" of the mosaic, on 0.025" pixels

The data may also be obtained via ftp.
ftp archive.stsci.edu
logon as anonymous
cd /pub/hlsp/tno