Abstract
Abstract We present results from a new pipeline custom-designed to search for faint, undiscovered solar system bodies using full-frame image data from the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. This pipeline removes the baseline flux of each pixel before aligning and coadding frames along plausible orbital paths of interest. We first demonstrate the performance of the pipeline by recovering the signals of three trans-Neptunian objects—90377 Sedna (V = 20.64), 2015 BP519 (V = 21.81), and 2007 TG422 (V = 22.32)—both through shift-stacking along their known sky-projected paths and through a blind recovery. We then apply this blind-search procedure in a proof-of-concept survey of TESS Sectors 18 and 19, which extend through a portion of the Galactic plane in the Northern Hemisphere. We search for dim objects at geocentric distances d = 70–800 au in a targeted search for Planet Nine and any previously unknown detached Kuiper Belt objects that may shed light on the Planet Nine hypothesis. With no input orbital information, our present pipeline can reliably recover the signals of distant solar system bodies in the Galactic plane with V < 21 and current distances d ≲ 150 au, and we elaborate on paths forward to push these limits in future optimizations. The methods described in this paper will serve as a foundation for an all-sky shift-stacking survey of the distant solar system with TESS.
Highlights
The outer reaches of the solar system, at distances d ≥ 70 au, remain largely unexplored
We demonstrated its performance by recovering the signals of three known outer solar system objects
All of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) cameras are aligned with the ecliptic plane in which Earth orbits, meaning that, over a 27-day observing sector, slowly-orbiting outer solar system objects primarily move in one direction – horizontally across the TESS frame – with little vertical (y-direction) motion
Summary
The outer reaches of the solar system, at distances d ≥ 70 au, remain largely unexplored. At the time of writing, fewer than 100 detached Kuiper belt objects (KBOs), with perihelia q 40 au and no direct interactions with the known solar system planets, have been discovered. These objects, are of exceptional interest due to the unique window that they provide into the dynamical evolution of the outer solar system. The observed apsidal and nodal alignment of detached KBOs, combined with the unexpectedly high inclinations and eccentrici-. Several recent and ongoing searches have placed observational constraints on the properties of Planet Nine. Meisner et al (2018) applied data from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE; Wright et al 2010) to search for the proposed planet at high galactic latitudes, ruling out a bright planet
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