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The trans-Neptunian object (119951) 2002 KX14 revealed via multiple stellar occultations

J. L. Rizos, J. L. Ortiz, F. L. Rommel, B. Sicardy, N. Morales, P. Santos-Sanz, E. Fernández-Valenzuela, J. Desmars, D. Souami, M. Kretlow, A. Alvarez-Candal, J. M. Gómez-Limón, R. Duffard, Y. Kilic, R. Morales, B. J. Holler, M. Vara-Lubiano, A. Marciniak, V. Kashuba, N. Koshkin, S. Kashuba, A. Pal, G. M. Szabó, A. Derekas, L. Szigeti, C. Ellington, O. Schreurs, S. Mottola, R. Iglesias-Marzoa, N. Maícas, F. J. Galindo-Guil, F. Organero, L. Ana, K. Getrost, V. Nikitin, A. Verbiscer, M. Skrutskie, Candace Gray, M. Malacarne, C. Jacques, P. Cacella, O. Canales, D. Lafuente, S. Calavia, Ch. Oncins, M. Assafin, F. Braga-Ribas, J. I. B. Camargo, A. R. Gomes-Júnior, B. Morgado, E. Gradovski, R. Vieira-Martins, F. Colas, M. Tekes, O. Erece, M. Kaplan, A. Schweizer, J. Kubanek

Abstract

(119951) 2002 KX14 is a large classical TNO with limited previous observations and unresolved questions regarding its physical properties. Five stellar occultations by 2002 KX14 were observed from 2020 to 2023, involving multiple telescopes across different locations in Europe and the Americas. The five occultations resulted in 15 positive chords, accurately measuring the 2002 KX14's shape and size. The projected ellipse has semi-major and semi-minor axes of $241.0 \pm 7.2$ km and $157.1 \pm 5.2$ km, respectively, corresponding to an average area-equivalent diameter of $389.2 \pm 8.7$ km. The geometric albedo was estimated at $11.9 \pm 0.7\%$.

The trans-Neptunian object (119951) 2002 KX14 revealed via multiple stellar occultations

Abstract

(119951) 2002 KX14 is a large classical TNO with limited previous observations and unresolved questions regarding its physical properties. Five stellar occultations by 2002 KX14 were observed from 2020 to 2023, involving multiple telescopes across different locations in Europe and the Americas. The five occultations resulted in 15 positive chords, accurately measuring the 2002 KX14's shape and size. The projected ellipse has semi-major and semi-minor axes of km and km, respectively, corresponding to an average area-equivalent diameter of km. The geometric albedo was estimated at .

Paper Structure

This paper contains 13 sections, 8 equations, 10 figures, 5 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Observations
  3. Occultation A: May 26, 2020
  4. Occultation B: June 23, 2022
  5. Occultation C: May 17, 2023
  6. Occultation D: May 19, 2023
  7. Occultation E: July 01, 2023
  8. Data analysis and results
  9. Stellar occultations
  10. Geometric albedo
  11. Conclusions and future works
  12. Hertzsprung–Russell diagram of occulted stars and predicted occultation shadow path
  13. Stellar occultation analyses

Figures (10)

  • Figure 1: Chords of all the occultations centered in a common reference position, as explained in the text, along with the best fitting ellipse. This ellipse has a semi-major axis ($v$) of $241.0 \pm 7.2$ km, a semi-minor axis ($u$) of $157.1 \pm 5.2$ km, and an average area-equivalent diameter of $389.2 \pm 8.7$ km
  • Figure 2: Absolute magnitude versus temperature of the HYG star database along with the stars occulted by 2002 KX14 and analyzed in this work.
  • Figure 3: Predicted occultation shadow path computed from JPL$\#$18 ephemerids for (a) May 26, 2020, (b) June 23, 2022, (c) May 17, 2023, (d) May 19, 2023, and (e) July 01, 2023. The green lines depict the boundaries of the shadow path assuming a 455 km diameter body. The black points indicate the center of the shadow path at 5-second intervals, with the largest point representing the central moment of the prediction. The dots indicate the positions of the stations involved in the campaigns. Green dots signify sites where a positive occultation was observed, red dots a negative occultation, and blue ones indicate low S/N or technical issues (neither positive nor negative). These maps have been generated using SORA. The bottom right arrows denote the shadow's direction of motion.
  • Figure 4: Normalized flux values obtained from the six positive observations made during Occ. A on May 26, 2020. The solid line represents a square well fit to the observational data. The observing sites and the significance of the drop are indicated in the inserted labels.
  • Figure 5: Normalized flux values obtained from the three positive observations made during Occ. B on June 23, 2022. The solid line represents a square well fit to the observational data. The observing sites and the significance of the drop are indicated in the inserted labels.
  • ...and 5 more figures