Serendipitous Detection of Orbital Debris by the International Liquid Mirror Telescope: First Results
Paul Hickson,
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada. Corresponding author: hickson@physics.ubc.ca
Bhavya Ailawadhi,
Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational sciencES (ARIES), Manora Peak, Nainital, 263001, India and Department of Physics, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, 273009, India
Talat Akhunov,
National University of Uzbekistan, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 100174 Tashkent, Uzbekistan and Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences, Astronomicheskaya 33, 100052 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Ermanno Borra,
Department of Physics, Université Laval, 2325, rue de l’Université, Québec, G1V 0A6, Canada
Monalisa Dubey,
Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational sciencES (ARIES), Manora Peak, Nainital, 263001, India and Department of Applied Physics, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University, Bareilly, 243006, India
Naveen Dukiya,
Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational sciencES (ARIES), Manora Peak, Nainital, 263001, India and Department of Applied Physics, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University, Bareilly, 243006, India.
Jiuyang Fu,
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
Baldeep Grewal,
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
Brajesh Kumar,
Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational sciencES (ARIES), Manora Peak, Nainital, 263001, India
Kuntal Misra,
Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational sciencES (ARIES), Manora Peak, Nainital, 263001, India.
Vibhore Negi,
Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational sciencES (ARIES), Manora Peak, Nainital, 263001, India and Department of Physics, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, 273009, India.
Kumar Pranshu,
Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational sciencES (ARIES), Manora Peak, Nainital, 263001, India and Department of Applied Optics and Photonics, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, 700106, India
Ethen Sun,
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
Jean Surdej,
Institute of Astrophysics and Geophysics, University of Liège, Allée du 6 Août 19c, 4000 Liège, Belgium
Abstract
Orbital debris presents a growing risk to space operations, and is becoming a significant source of contamination of astronomical images. Much of the debris population is uncatalogued, making the impact more difficult to assess. We present initial results from the first ten nights of commissioning observations with the International Liquid Mirror Telescope, in which images were examined for streaks produced by orbiting objects including satellites, rocket bodies and other forms of debris. We detected 83 streaks and performed a correlation analysis to attempt to match these with objects in the public database. 48% of these objects were uncorrelated, indicating substantial incompleteness in the database, even for some relatively-bright objects. We were able to detect correlated objects to an estimated magnitude of 14.5 and possibly about two magnitudes greater for the faintest uncorrelated object.
Keywords : orbital debris, instrumentation
Pour citer cet article
Paul Hickson, Bhavya Ailawadhi, Talat Akhunov, Ermanno Borra, Monalisa Dubey, Naveen Dukiya, Jiuyang Fu, Baldeep Grewal, Brajesh Kumar, Kuntal Misra, Vibhore Negi, Kumar Pranshu, Ethen Sun & Jean Surdej, «Serendipitous Detection of Orbital Debris by the International Liquid Mirror Telescope: First Results», Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège [En ligne], Volume 93 - Année 2024, No 2 - Proceeedings of the 3rd BINA Workshop on the Scientific Potential of the Indo-Belgian Cooperation, 903-909 URL : https://popups.uliege.be/0037-9565/index.php?id=11920.
