A Search for Satellites around Ceres
Russell, C. T.; Stern, S. A.; Young, E. F.; Parker, J. Wm.; Bieryla, A.; McFadden, L. A.; Sykes, M. V.; Gladman, B.
United States, Canada
Abstract
We conducted a satellite search around the dwarf planet 1 Ceres using Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based Palomar data. No candidate objects were found orbiting Ceres in its entire stability region down to ~500 km from the surface of Ceres. Assuming a satellite would have the same albedo as Ceres, which has a visual geometric albedo of 0.07-0.10, our detection limit is sensitive to satellites larger than 1-2 km in diameter.