Ascertain Quaoar’s rotational phase during the multi-chord occultations used for shape constraints

Ascertain Quaoar’s rotational phase during the 2011 and 2022 multi-chord stellar occultations to determine whether those events occurred near light-curve maxima or minima, thereby disambiguating triaxial shape solutions and refining volume-equivalent size and axis ratio estimates.

Background

The paper evaluates both oblate and triaxial shape solutions for Quaoar and leverages occultation-derived apparent shapes. The preferred triaxial solution depends on whether the occultation occurred at light-curve maximum or minimum.

The authors explicitly state that the rotational phase is unknown at the time of the occultations, allowing multiple solutions to fit both the thermal and visible light curves. Determining the exact rotational phase would resolve which triaxial configuration best matches the occultation constraints.