The Canada–France Ecliptic Plane Survey (CFEPS)—High-latitude Component

The High Ecliptic Latitude (HiLat) extension of the Canada–France Ecliptic Plane Survey (CFEPS), conducted from 2006 June to 2009 July, discovered a set of Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) that we report here. The HiLat component was designed to address one of the shortcomings of ecliptic surveys (like CFEPS), their low sensitivity to high-inclination objects. We searched 701 deg2 of sky ranging from 12° to 85° ecliptic latitude and discovered 24 TNOs, with inclinations between 15° and 104°. This survey places a very strong constraint on the inclination distribution of the hot component of the classical Kuiper Belt, ruling out any possibility of a large intrinsic fraction of highly inclined orbits. Using the parameterization of Brown, the HiLat sample combined with CFEPS imposes a width 14° ≤ σ ≤ 15.°5, with a best match for σ = 14.°5. HiLat discovered the first retrograde TNO, 2008 KV42, with an almost polar orbit with inclination 104°, and (418993) = 2009 MS9, a scattering object with perihelion in the region of Saturn’s influence, with a ∼ 400 au and i = 68°.