Pluto.20220601

June 01, 2022

Finder Charts

Observing Information

Prediction Last Updated: January 08, 2022

Across the globe pictured, the three solid black lines correspond to the northern limit, centerline, and southern limit of the Pluto's shadow. The Northern and Southern limits correspond to a radius of 1400 km. The dashed lines indicate 3-sigma errors. The shaded area on the globe represents where the sun is more than 0 degrees below the horizon. The shadow paths on the globe are an approximation at the geocentric close approach time; they disregard the Earth rotation during the event.



Table 1: Prediction Details
Pluto Geocentric Mid-time (hh:mm:ss)

June 01, 2022 16:16:36 ± 00:00:35. UT1

Prediction pred3.0_v1.0
Pluto apparent magnitude 14.3
Occultation Star Gaia DR2 G magnitude 12.979538
Occultation Star Gaia DR2 rp magnitude 12.201165
Occultation Star Gaia DR2 bp magnitude 13.648918
Occultation Star NOMAD J magnitude 11.100
Occultation Star NOMAD H magnitude 10.468
Occultation Star NOMAD K magnitude 10.313
Pluto Minimum Geocentric Separation 0.0581 ± 0.0345 arcsec1
Position Angle (Pluto relative to the star; measured north through east) -20.65

1One standard deviation of random error




Table 2: Reference Star Position
Reference star position:
(Gaia DR2)
RA (h:m:s; J2000) Dec (d:m:s; J2000) Notes
Pluto.20220601 (Catalog; epoch of occ) 20:02:18.4471 ± 0.0004 -22:33:02.2793 ± 0.0003
Pluto.20220601 (Measured) - -

Potential Star Duplicity:

Unknown




Table 3: Projected KBO Offsets from Reference Ephemeris at the Time of the Event
Body RA (arcsec) Dec (arcsec)  
Pluto

0.0399 ± 0.0210

0.0095 ± 0.0270 See Notes 5 and 6; Includes Pluto Center of Light to Center of Body correction

2Measured position corresponds to RA offset of 0. and Dec. offset of 0.

3All "offsets" are degined in the ("corrected"–"reference") or ("observed"–"calculated") sense. The offsets should be added to reference positions to get the measured positions, which we use to calculate the prediction.

4The reference positions for Pluto are those given by JPL Horizon's ephemeris (Pluto source file: plu55l_merged ; Earth center source file: plu55l_merged)

5Data from various telescope were reduced with respect to the Gaia DR2 catalog. A model was developed to fit the residuals obtained from our measured positions compared to that of the object's JPL ephemeris. All residuals obtained from the different telescopes were consistent with the model. The model includes the first-order effects of errors in the orbital elements of the object: (i) constant offsets in RA and Dec, (ii) linear (in time) offsets in RA and Dec, and (iii) potential sinusoidal terms with companion's period. The model was propagated to obtain the predicted position and error of the KBO at the time of the occultation. The errors listed for the KBO are 1 standard deviation.




Table 4: Site Information
Site
East Longitude
Latitude

Site Altitude6

(km)

Distance7

(km)

Velocity

(km/s)

Alice Springs
133 52 50
-23 41 52
-
768 S
15.3
Cairns
145 30 30
-16 59 18
-
228 S
15.3
Darwin
130 50 39
-12 27 49
-
473 N
15.3
Learmonth
114 05 50
-22 14 22
-
557 S
15.2
Perth
115 51 40
-31 57 08
-
1620 S
15.2
Reedy Creek
153 24 24
-28 06 34
-
1605 S
15.3
Rockhampton
150 30 31
-23 22 43
-
1026 S
15.3
Savannah Skies
144 21 28
-17 03 25
-
212 S
15.3
Siding Spring
149 03 44
-31 16 17
1.205
1843 S
15.3
Sunshine Coast
152 35 49
-26 29 27
0.
1411 S
15.3
Geocentric
..........
..........
-6378.14
1425 S
14.93

6Altitude of each observatory is measured in kilometers above sea level.

7"Distance" refers to the closest approach of the "Site" to the center of Pluto's shadow in the shadow plane. The errors on all closest approach distances are ±845 km (one standard deviation). "S." means the site is south of the center of Pluto's shadow. "N." means the site is north of the center of Pluto's shadow.




Table 5: Pluto Occultation Predictions for Individual Sites
Site
KBO Immersion (UT)8
UT Mid-Time
KBO Altitude

Solar Altitude8

KBO Emersion (UT)8

Alice Springs
16:17:44
16:20:00
61
-72
16:21:17
Cairns
16:17:08
16:18:38
70
-60
16:20:09
Darwin
16:18:37
16:20:03
56
-72
16:21:29
Learmonth
16:20:19
16:21:43
43
-90
16:23:08
Perth
........
16:21:36
46
-80
........
Reedy Creek
........
16:18:09
76
-55
........
Rockhampton
16:17:17
16:18:19
76
-57
16:19:21
Savannah Skies
16:17:17
16:18:47
69
-61
16:20:18
Siding Spring
........
16:18:40
72.73
-58.22
........
Sunshine Coast
........
16:18:11
77.28
-55.50
........
Geocentric
........
16:16:36
........

8The errors on all times are ± 0:42. (42. seconds; one standard deviation). The solar altitude is given for locations where it is relevant (solar altitude greater than -18 deg). No entry in the immersion and emersion columns indicates that the occultation is not predicted to be visible at that site.




Webpage generated by C. A. Zuluaga (czuluaga@mit.edu) on May 27, 2022

Please direct all inquiries to PAL (planetary-astronomy@mit.edu)