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. deg(2) of sky ranging from 12 degrees to 85 degrees ecliptic latitude and discovered 24 TNOs, with inclinations between 15 degrees and 104 degrees. 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 degrees <= sigma <= 15 degrees.5, with a best match for sigma = 14 degrees.5. HiLat discovered the first retrograde TNO, 2008. KV42, with an almost polar orbit with inclination 104 degrees, and (418993) = 2009 MS9, a scattering object with perihelion in the region of Saturn's influence, with a similar to 400 au and i = 68 degrees.