Deep Imaging of the Kuiper Belt with the Keck 10 Meter Telescope

Abstract

We present a new, pencil-beam survey of the Kuiper Belt taken with the Keck 10 m telescope. The cumulative surface density of Kuiper Belt Objects measured to apparent red magnitude mR=26.1 is 31+12-14 deg-2, while to mR=26.6 it is 40+/-33 deg-2. These numbers are compatible with an extrapolation of the luminosity function deduced earlier from measurements in the 20