A Satellite Search of a Newly Discovered Dwarf Planet

All of the largest Kuiper Belt Objects have relatively small, close-in satellites. These satellites are likely produced by direct collisions on the primaries surface and show Earth-Moon forming impacts are likely the norm of planet formation. We recently discovered the ninth intrinsically brightest KBO, 2013 FY27, likely making it one of the top 10 largest KBOs. The largest 15 KBOs have been searched for satellites using HST, with 11 of those found to have satellites. Knowledge of a satellite are important for determining the density and thus internal structure of the KBO as well as its collisional history. 2013 FY27 is extra interesting because its size is likely in the transition region. The largest several KBOs seem to have higher densities than smaller KBOs as well as show abundant signs of water ice and methane ice. In addition, all the KBOs that are likely larger than 2013 FY23 have known satellites, except for Sedna, while the smaller KBOs satellites are not as prevalent. We propose to search for satellites of 2013 FY27 for the first time with deep, high resolution imaging to see if this transition sized dwarf planet has a satellite, which can further constrain its density.