Quantify ring and satellite thermal contributions to Quaoar’s system-integrated infrared flux

Determine the thermal emission contributions of Quaoar’s primary ring Q1R and its satellite Weywot to the system-integrated infrared flux densities (e.g., in the Herschel/PACS 100 and 160 μm bands and Spitzer/MIPS 24 and 70 μm bands) in order to reduce the radiometric size uncertainty of Quaoar derived from thermophysical modeling.

Background

Quaoar is a large Kuiper belt object with a complex system including two rings (Q1R and Q2R) and a satellite, Weywot. The paper models Quaoar’s thermal light curves and radiometric size but notes that the presence of ring and satellite flux complicates inference of the primary’s properties.

In the abstract, the authors explicitly state that the radiometric size uncertainty remains large because the ring and satellite contributions to the system-integrated flux are unknown. Later sections explore plausible ranges for ring and satellite fluxes but emphasize that better constraints are needed to refine Quaoar’s size and thermal inertia.