A SEARCH FOR PROTOCOMETS IN THE OUTER REGIONS OF THE SOLAR-SYSTEM

Approximately 4.9 sq. deg of the ecliptic have been searched for objects that reside in a region beyond 25 AU from the Sun. Recent theoretical work has suggested that the objects that formed in this part of the solar system were responsible for the formation of the Oort Cloud at early times and are currently the source of short-period comets. No object was found that showed the proper motion expected. Our data imply that at the 99% confidence level, there is less than one such object per square degree brighter than 22.5 mag in V near the ecliptic lying between 25 and 60 AU from the Sun.