3:30–4:30 pm
ERC 161 - For zoom information please contact Laticia Rebeles - lrebeles@oddjob.uchicago.edu ERC 161
Off-Label use of the Dark Energy Survey
I will present the methods and results of a search for outer-solar-system bodies in the 6 years of images from the Dark Energy Survey of 1/8 of the sky. Some initial inferences from the >800 trans-Neptunian objects detected in DES search weigh on the possible existence of a distant Neptune-mass "Planet X," and on the formation of the TNO population. The search also discovered the largest known comet, C/2014 UN 271. This unique find is probably entering the planetary realm from the Oort cloud for the first time in 4 Gyr, and DES and subsequent data reveal the nature of the initial episode of sublimation. Time permitting, I will discuss a proposal to use LSST tracking of minor planets as a precision gravitational test for the existence of Planet X and for modifications of General Relativity, exploiting advances in astrometry made for the DES search.
