Probing the outer solar system with stellar occultations
Almost nothing is known about the population of small objects which inhabit the outer solar system. They reflect so little of the Sun's light that they are too faint to be observed directly, with even the most powerful telescopes. We hope to gleen some understanding of them by searching for stellar occultations. Such objects must occassionally pass in front of a background star, and momentarily obscure its light. By monitoring the brightnesses of stars with video imaging, we study these objects not via the light they produce, but through the absense of light they create. For a basic description of occultation research, please see my Research page.
