We report the discovery, tracking, and detection circumstances for 85 trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) from the first 42 deg(2) of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey. This ongoing r-band solar system survey uses the 0.9 deg(2) field of view MegaPrime camera on the 3.6m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Our orbital elements for these TNOs are precise to a fractional semimajor axis uncertainty <0.1%. We achieve this precision in just two oppositions, as compared to the normal three to five oppositions, via a dense observing cadence and innovative astrometric technique. These discoveries are free of ephemeris bias, a first for large trans-Neptunian surveys. We also provide the necessary information to enable models of TNO orbital distributions to be tested against our TNO sample. We confirm the existence of a cold "kernel" of objects within the main cold classical Kuiper Belt and infer the existence of an extension of the "stirred" cold classical Kuiper Belt to at least several au beyond the 2:1 mean motion resonance with Neptune. We find that the population model of Petit et al. remains a plausible representation of the Kuiper Belt. The full survey, to be completed in 2017, will provide an exquisitely characterized sample of important resonant TNO populations, ideal for testing models of giant planet migration during the early history of the solar system.

Several different classes of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) have been identified based on their optical and near-infrared colors. As part of the Colours of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (Col-OSSOS), we have obtained g-, r-, and z-band photometry of 26 TNOs using Subaru and Gemini Observatories. Previous color surveys have not utilized z-band reflectance, and the inclusion of this band reveals significant surface reflectance variations between sub-populations. The colors of TNOs in g - r and r - z show obvious structure, and appear consistent with the previously measured bi-modality in g - r. The distribution of colors of the two dynamically excited surface types can be modeled using the two-component mixing models from Fraser & Brown. With the combination of g - r and r - z, the dynamically excited classes can be separated cleanly into red and neutral surface classes. In g - r and r - z, the two dynamically excited surface groups are also clearly distinct from the cold classical TNO surfaces, which are red, with g - r greater than or similar to 0.85 and r - z less than or similar to 0.6, while all dynamically excited objects with similar g - r colors exhibit redder r - z colors. The z-band photometry makes it possible for the first time to differentiate the red excited TNO surfaces from the red cold classical TNO surfaces. The discovery of different r - z colors for these cold classical TNOs makes it possible to search for cold classical surfaces in other regions of the Kuiper Belt and to completely separate cold classical TNOs from the dynamically excited population, which overlaps in orbital parameter space.

The accumulating but small set of large semimajor axis trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) shows an apparent clustering in the orientations of their orbits. This clustering must either be representative of the intrinsic distribution of these TNOs, or else have arisen as a result of observation biases and/or statistically expected variations for such a small set of detected objects. The clustered TNOs were detected across different and independent surveys, which has led to claims that the detections are therefore free of observational bias. This apparent clustering has led to the so-called "Planet 9" hypothesis that a super-Earth currently resides in the distant solar system and causes this clustering. The Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS) is a large program that ran on theCanada-France-Hawaii Telescope from 2013 to 2017, discovering more than 800 new TNOs. One of the primary design goals of OSSOS was the careful determination of observational biases that would manifest within the detected sample. We demonstrate the striking and non-intuitive biases that exist for the detection of TNOs with large semimajor axes. The eight large semimajor axis OSSOS detections are an independent data set, of comparable size to the conglomerate samples used in previous studies. We conclude that the orbital distribution of the OSSOS sample is consistent with being detected from a uniform underlying angular distribution.

The first two observational sky "blocks" of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS) have significantly increased the number of well characterized observed trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) in Neptune's mean motion resonances. We describe the 31 securely resonant TNOs detected by OSSOS so far, and we use them to independently verify the resonant population models from the Canada-France Ecliptic Plane Survey (CFEPS), with which we find broad agreement. We confirm that the 5:2 resonance is more populated than models of the outer solar system's dynamical history predict; our minimum population estimate shows that the high-eccentricity (e > 0.35) portion of the resonance is at least as populous as the 2:1 and possibly as populated as the 3:2 resonance. One OSSOS block was well suited for detecting objects trapped at low libration amplitudes in Neptune's 3:2 resonance, a population of interest in testing the origins of resonant TNOs. We detected three 3:2 objects with libration amplitudes below the cutoff modeled by CFEPS; OSSOS thus offers new constraints on this distribution. The OSSOS detections confirm that the 2:1 resonance has a dynamically colder inclination distribution than either the 3:2 or 5:2 resonances. Using the combined OSSOS and CFEPS 2:1 detections, we constrain the fraction of 2:1 objects in the symmetric mode of libration to 0.2-0.85; we also constrain the fraction of asymmetric librators in the leading island, which has been theoretically predicted to vary depending on Neptune's migration history, to be 0.05-0.8. Future OSSOS blocks will improve these constraints.

Context. Gravitationally bound multiple systems provide an opportunity to estimate the mean bulk density of the objects, whereas this characteristic is not available for single objects. Being a primitive population of the outer solar system, binary and multiple trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) provide unique information about bulk density and internal structure, improving our understanding of their formation and evolution. Aims. The goal of this work is to analyse parameters of multiple trans-Neptunian systems, observed with Herschel and Spitzer space telescopes. Particularly, statistical analysis is done for radiometric size and geometric albedo, obtained from photometric observations, and for estimated bulk density. Methods. We use Monte Carlo simulation to estimate the real size distribution of TNOs. For this purpose, we expand the dataset of diameters by adopting the Minor Planet Center database list with available values of the absolute magnitude therein, and the albedo distribution derived from Herschel radiometric measurements. We use the 2-sample Anderson-Darling non-parametric statistical method for testing whether two samples of diameters, for binary and single TNOs, come from the same distribution. Additionally, we use the Spearman's coefficient as a measure of rank correlations between parameters. Uncertainties of estimated parameters together with lack of data are taken into account. Conclusions about correlations between parameters are based on statistical hypothesis testing. Results. We have found that the difference in size distributions of multiple and single TNOs is biased by small objects. The test on correlations between parameters shows that the effective diameter of binary TNOs strongly correlates with heliocentric orbital inclination and with magnitude difference between components of binary system. The correlation between diameter and magnitude difference implies that small and large binaries are formed by different mechanisms. Furthermore, the statistical test indicates, although not significant with the sample size, that a moderately strong correlation exists between diameter and bulk density.

We measured the mean plane of the Kuiper Belt as a function of semimajor axis. For the classical Kuiper Belt as a whole (the nonresonant objects in the semimajor axis range 42-48 au), we find a mean plane of inclination i(m) = 1 degrees.8(-0 degrees.4)(+0 degrees.7) and longitude of ascending node Omega(m) = 77 degrees(+18 degrees)(-14 degrees) (in the J2000 ecliptic-equinox coordinate system), in accord with theoretical expectations of the secular effects of the known planets. With finer semimajor axis bins, we detect a statistically significant warp in the mean plane near semimajor axes 40-42 au. Linear secular theory predicts a warp near this location due to the nu(18) nodal secular resonance; however, the measured mean plane for the 40.3-42 au semimajor axis bin (just outside the nu(18)) is inclined similar to 13 degrees to the predicted plane, a nearly 3 sigma discrepancy. For the more distant Kuiper Belt objects of semimajor axes in the range 50-80 au, the expected mean plane is close to the invariable plane of the solar system, but the measured mean plane deviates greatly from this: it has inclination i(m) = 9 degrees.1(-3 degrees.8)(+6 degrees.6) and longitude of ascending node Omega(m) = 277 degrees(+18 degrees)(-44 degrees). We estimate this deviation from the expected mean plane to be statistically significant at the similar to 97%-99% confidence level. We discuss several possible explanations for this deviation, including the possibility that a relatively close-in (a less than or similar to 100 au), unseen, small planetary-mass object in the outer solar system is responsible for the warping.

The four longest period Kuiper Belt objects have orbital periods close to integer ratios with each other. A hypothetical planet with an orbital period of similar to 17,117 years and a semimajor axis similar to 665 au would have N/1 and N/2 period ratios with these four objects. The orbital geometries and dynamics of resonant orbits constrain the orbital plane, the orbital eccentricity, and the mass of such a planet as well as its current location in its orbital path.

Mean motion resonances (MMRs) play an important role in the formation and evolution of planetary systems and have significantly influenced the orbital properties and distribution of planets and minor planets in the solar system and in. exoplanetary systems. Most previous theoretical analyses have focused on the low- to moderate-eccentricity regime, but with new discoveries of high-eccentricity resonant minor planets and even exoplanets, there is increasing motivation to examine MMRs in the high-eccentricity regime. Here we report on a study of the high-eccentricity regime of MMRs in the circular planar restricted three-body problem. Numerical analyses of the 2: 1 and the 3: 2 interior resonances are carried out for a wide range of planet-to-star mass ratio mu, and for a wide range of eccentricity of the test particle. The surface-of-section technique is used to study the phase space structure near resonances. We find that new stable libration zones appear at higher eccentricity at libration centers that are. shifted from those at low eccentricities. We provide physically intuitive explanations for these transitions in phase space, and we present novel results on the mass and eccentricity dependence of the resonance widths. Our results show that MMRs have sizable libration zones at high eccentricities, comparable to those at lower eccentricities.