THE MAUNA-KEA-CERRO-TOLOLO (MKCT) KUIPER BELT AND CENTAUR SURVEY

We present the results of a medium depth ecliptic sky survey conducted with telescopes at the Mauna Kea and Cerro-Tololo Observatories. The survey revealed 15 new Kuiper Belt objects, and 2 Centaurs (objects or biting in the vicinity of the gas giant planets), bringing the total n umber of Kuiper Belt objects to 32 and Centaurs to 6. We use the new o bjects to begin to constrain some of the properties of the Kuiper Belt and Centaur populations. The apparent width of the Kuiper Belt is 10 degrees full width at half maximum (FWHM) but, after correcting for th e effects of observational selection, we find that the intrinsic width must be at least 30 degrees FWHM. The inferred number of objects in t he 30-50 AU heliocentric distance range is 7X10(4) (diameters greater than or equal to 100 km). Of these, about 40% (approximate to 3X10(4)) are in or near the 3:2 mean-motion resonance with Neptune. Pluto, whi ch also occupies this resonance, is now seen as the largest of a hithe rto unknown family of dynamically similar, resonantly trapped objects. We find that the Centaurs have a sky-plane surface density that is ap proximate to 0.5 deg(-2) to m(R)=24.2. The total population with absol ute magnitude H-g less than or equal to 9.5 (diameter approximately gr eater than or equal to 75 km if albedo approximate to 0.04) is N appro ximate to 2600, about an order of-magnitude greater than the correspon ding number of large main-belt asteroids. We crudely estimate that 1.5 M(Earth) of material has been cycled from the Kuiper Belt through the Centaurs in the age of the solar system. (C) 1996 American Astronomic al Society.