# # Program information file # PROGRAM_ID 2022B018 PROGRAM_TITLE Searching for Red Outer Solar System Materials in the Middle & Outer Main Belt PROGRAM_INV1 Oriel Humes PROGRAM_INV2 Cristina Thomas PROGRAM_INV3 PROGRAM_INV4 PROGRAM_INV5 PROGRAM_SCICAT main-belt / Trojan asteroids PROGRAM_ABSTRACT_BEG During the period of planetary migration, the small bodies throughout the outer Solar System were mixed and transported great distances causing some distant outer Solar System objects to become embedded in the primordial Main Belt. If this material was placed into the Main Belt, then we expect to observe asteroids with highly red spectral slopes, similar to or exceeding those in the 'red' Trojan spectral group. We propose to obtain SpeX prism near-infrared spectra of candidate red asteroids in the middle and outer Main Belt to identify potential outer Solar System material. We used spectrophotometry from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Moving Object Catalog [SDSS MOC] to select candidate Main Belt asteroids with slopes in excess of the average red Trojan spectral slope. We aim to obtain near-infrared spectra of approximately 30-40 candidate red asteroids during a multi-semester survey in order to confirm at least 8 red asteroids. During this semester, we propose to obtain spectra of 8 candidate red asteroids using the Spex instrument. We will investigate the distribution of these confirmed red objects throughout the Main Belt in order to provide further constraints on dynamical models of giant planet migration in the early Solar System. PROGRAM_ABSTRACT_END