DebrisWatch I: A survey of faint geosynchronous debris |
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Authors: | James A Blake Paul Chote Don Pollacco William Feline Grant Privett Andrew Ash Stuart Eves Arthur Greenwood Nick Harwood Thomas R Marsh Dimitri Veras Christopher Watson |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK;2. Centre for Exoplanets & Habitability, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK;3. Defence Science & Technology Laboratory, Portsdown West, Fareham PO17 6AD, UK;4. Defence Science & Technology Laboratory, Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JQ, UK;5. SJE Space Ltd., Clayhill Road, Burghfield Common, Berkshire RG7 3HB, UK;6. Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queens University, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK |
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Abstract: | Recent anomalies exhibited by satellites and rocket bodies have highlighted that a population of faint debris exists at geosynchronous (GEO) altitudes, where there are no natural removal mechanisms. Despite previous optical surveys probing to around 10–20 cm in size, regular monitoring of faint sources at GEO is challenging, thus our knowledge remains sparse. It is essential that we continue to explore the faint debris population using large telescopes to better understand the risk posed to active GEO satellites. To this end, we present photometric results from a survey of the GEO region carried out with the 2.54 m Isaac Newton Telescope in La Palma, Canary Islands. We probe to 21st visual magnitude (around 10 cm, assuming Lambertian spheres with an albedo of 0.1), uncovering 129 orbital tracks with GEO-like motion across the eight nights of dark-grey time comprising the survey. The faint end of our brightness distribution continues to rise until the sensitivity limit of the sensor is reached, suggesting that the modal brightness could be even fainter. We uncover a number of faint, uncatalogued objects that show photometric signatures of rapid tumbling, many of which straddle the limiting magnitude of our survey over the course of a single exposure, posing a complex issue when estimating object size. This work presents the first instalment of DebrisWatch, an ongoing collaboration between the University of Warwick and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (UK) investigating the faint population of GEO debris. |
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Keywords: | Geosynchronous earth orbit Optical imaging Orbital debris Light curves Detection pipeline Debris environment |
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