CFHT UM2025 - Presentation Details


Abstract Details

Title: A targeted survey of approaching interstellar objects with CFHT

Presenter: Michele Bannister

Abstract:

With a population of at least 10^25 interstellar objects in the Milky Way, it is somewhat surprising that only two (1I/`Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov) have been observed to date. We report on the design and implementation of a targeted CFHT survey which aims to increase this number, and, crucially, to enable the discovery of such objects on their inbound approach to the Solar System. Our newly developed Ōtautahi-Oxford model of the interstellar object population reveals the complexity of the chemodynamic properties of the population, which is sensitive to the history and development of star and planet formation throughout the Galaxy, and which predicts an overdensity of objects approaching from the solar apex. Targeting this region of the northern sky with CFHT uniquely complements discoveries expected from the Vera Rubin Observatory in the south. Our survey is also designed to provide a high probability for precovery opportunities of Rubin-discovered ISOs. This talk will discuss our survey strategy and observations to date, opportunities for the Community Surveys, and what we could learn from a modest sample of 10-50 of these objects.