Whipple was a proposed space observatory in the NASA Discovery Program.[1] The observatory would try to search for objects in the Kuiper belt and the theorized Oort cloud by conducting blind occultation observations.[2] Although the Oort cloud was hypothesized in the 1950s, it has not yet been directly observed.[2] The mission would attempt to detect Oort cloud objects by scanning for brief moments where the objects would block the light of background stars.[2]
In 2011, three finalists were selected for the 2016 Discovery Program, and Whipple was not among them, but it was awarded funding to continue its technological development efforts.[3]
Description
editWhipple would orbit in a halo orbit around the Earth–Sun L2 and have a photometer that would try to detect Oort cloud and Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) by recording their transits of distant stars.[1] It would be designed to detect objects out to 10000 AU.[1] Some of the mission goals included directly detecting the Oort cloud for the first time and determining the outer limit of the Kuiper belt.[1] Whipple would be designed to detect objects as small as a kilometer (half a mile) across at a distance of 3,200 billion kilometers; 22,000 astronomical units (2×1012 mi).[4] Its telescope would need a relatively wide field of view and fast recording cadence to capture transits that may last only seconds.[5]
In 2011, Whipple was one of three proposals to win a technology development award in a Discovery Program selection.[4] The design proposed was a catadioptric Cassegrain telescope with a 77-centimeter aperture (30.3 inches).[6] It would have a wide field of view with a fast read-out CMOS detector to achieve the desired time and photometric sensitivity.[7]
The smallest KBO yet detected was discovered in 2009 by poring over data from the Hubble Space Telescope's fine guidance sensors.[8] Astronomers detected a transit of an object against a distant star, which, based on the duration and amount of dimming, was calculated to be a KBO about 1,000 meters (3,200 ft) in diameter.[8] It has been suggested that the Kepler space telescope may be able to detect objects in the Oort cloud by their occultation of background stars.[9]
See also
edit- Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory
- List of proposed space observatories
- List of Solar System objects most distant from the Sun
- List of space observatories
- NEO Surveyor, a planned space telescope
- New Horizons, Pluto and KBO flyby probe
- Whipple shield, a type of spacecraft shielding
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Alcock, Charles; Brown, Michael; Tom, Gauron; Cate, Heneghan; Holman, Matthew; Kenter, Almus; Kraft, Ralph; Lee, Roger; Livingston, John; Mcguire, James; Murray, Stephen; Murray-Clay, Ruth; Nulsen, Paul; Payne, Matthew; Schlichting, Hilke; Trangsrud, Amy; Vrtilek, Jan; Werner, Michael. "The Whipple Mission Exploring the Oort cloud and the Kuiper Belt" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 17, 2015.
- ^ a b c Alcock, C.; Brown, M. E.; Gauron, T.; Heneghan, C.; Holman, M. J.; Kenter, A.; Kraft, R.; Lee, R.; Livingston, J. (2014-12-01). "The Whipple Mission: Exploring the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud". AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts. 51: P51D–3977. Bibcode:2014AGUFM.P51D3977A.
- ^ "NASA Selects 3 Finalists for 2016 Discovery Mission". SpaceNews. May 6, 2011. Archived from the original on August 31, 2024. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
- ^ a b "NASA Selects 'Whipple' Mission for Technology Development". www.space-travel.com. May 10, 2011. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
- ^ A Fast, Wide Field of View, Catadioptric Telescope for Whipple
- ^ "High Energy Astrophysics". whipple.cfa.harvard.edu. Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
- ^ Alcock, Charles. "Whipple: Exploring the Solar System beyond Neptune Using a Survey for Occultations of Bright Stars". Solar System Exploration: NASA Science. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
- ^ a b "HubbleSite: News - Hubble Finds Smallest Kuiper Belt Object Ever Seen". hubblesite.org. Retrieved 2018-01-27.
- ^ Ofek, Eran O; Nakar, Ehud (2010). "Detectability of Oort Cloud Objects Using Kepler". The Astrophysical Journal. 711 (1): L7. arXiv:0912.0948. Bibcode:2010ApJ...711L...7O. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/711/1/L7. S2CID 119240916.