Spectrophotometric observations of Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt objects

The Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt (EKB) objects are fossil remnants of the formatio n of the Solar System and they represent an important reservoir of primordi al, thermally unprocessed material. The study of these objects has rapidly evolved in the last few years. New observational work allowed planetary sci entists to investigate evolutionary and dynamical processes in the outer so lar system, putting some constraints on, for example, the origin of comets and the accretion of planetesimals. The chemical and physical information o n this population is still very poor: intensive observational studies are n eeded. For this reason we started a spectrophotometric observation program in 1997 at ESO with the NTT telescope to investigate the EKB. We present th e obtained results for six objects (1994 JR(1), 1994 TB, 1995 QY(9), 1996 T L66, 1996 TO66, and 1996 TP66). We analyzed all the B, V, R, and I data ava ilable in the literature to investigate some bulk properties. We found indi cations of a complex and inhomogeneous population. (C) 1999 Academic Press.