2003 KBO Workshop at the DPS meeting

This is a mini-workshop to discuss the scientific potential related to occultation studies of the Kuiper Belt population involving both targeted and blind-field surveys. The workshop will allow opportunities to update current observational programs and to address future directions in this field. A main aspect of the workshop will be to discuss the scientific case for a space-based KBO search either as a dedicated small-explorer mission or as part of a similar mission to understand the outer Solar system.

The workshop is organized by Charles Alcock & Matt Lehner (UPenn), Asantha Cooray (Caltech)

Date: September 1st, 2003 (Before the Regular Science Sessions at the 2003 DPS meeting. The workshop will start promptly at 1pm in the Redwood II room of the Double Tree Hotel in Monetery, CA. For details, please visit the official DPS site). On the day of the workshop, please call me at (626)-319-0986, in case of a last minute change.

The program and a list of participants are now available. If you are still interested in contributing to this workshop, please contact Asantha Cooray (asante@caltech.edu).

Final Program

Most Talks are now online in both powerpoint files and direct html format for web access

1:10 - 1:30 Formation of KBOs and expectations for their size distributions- Re'em Sari (Caltech) Power Point file

1:35 - 2:05 Review of Observational Results from the Deep Ecliptic Survey and others - Marc Buie (Lowell)

2:10 - 2:35 Kuiper Belt Occultation Experiments: Expectations for Dynamical Models of the Outer Solar System - Joe Hahn (LPI)

2:40 - 2:55 Targeted Occultations Studies (with SOFIA and Ground Based Telescopes) - Mike Person (MIT) Power Point file

2:55 - 3:10 Astrometric Issues Related to KBO Occultations - Larry Wasserman (Lowell) Power Point file

3:10 - 3:25 Report from the Oort Cloud - Luke Dones (SWRI) Power Point file

Coffee Break

3:45 - 4:15 Campaign of research of small Kuiper Belt objects by stellar occultations - Francoise Roques (Obs. Paris) Power Point file

4:15 - 4:45 Current Blind-field Searches: TAOS - Matt Lehner (UPenn)

4:45 - 5:10 Beyond TAOS: Future Blind-field Surveys - Charles Alcock (UPenn) Power Point file

5:10 - 6:00 Open Discussion: Future directions (related to both ground-based and space-based attempts)

Participants