Kodak moments at Pluto: Help requested Options

[john_s]

Hi folks-

We are deep in the process of planning the Pluto encounter (we're doing it now while all the essential people are still on the payroll!), and following the great success of our Jupiter "Kodak moment" program (thanks Hendric!), we are once again soliciting help from UMSF in planning scenic imaging of the Pluto system. Unlike at Jupiter, the only time when bodies in the Pluto system occult each other is within an hour of closest approach, when we'll be too busy for purely scenic imaging, but there may be interesting alignments or other opportunities at other times.

To help find these opportunities, Henry Throop has kindly made available his New Horizons Geometry Visualizer, NHGV, which is the science team's prime geometry planning tool. It's at http://soc.boulder.swri.edu/nhgv . The tool shows the view of selected targets from the spacecraft at any time during the encounter. Below is some more detailed information from Henry.

More information on the New Horizons instrument capabilities is available here.

We'd like inputs by early June if possible- thanks in advance!
John.

I have developed an on-line, graphical tool for planning and visualizing New Horizons observations. This is a web-based, graphical tool which uses SPICE to plot the position of bodies in the sky, and as they pass through the NH FOVs.

The program is online at http://soc.boulder.swri.edu/nhgv .

Features of NHGV (New Horizons Geometry Visualizer) include:

* Integration with NAIF/SPICE, allowing for accurate positions and observing geometries for planets, satellites, and spacecraft
* Integration with HD and Tycho-2 star catalogs, including access to catalog information such as positions, magnitudes, and stellar types
* Light-time corrections for all computations
* FOVs of all New Horizons remote sensing instruments
* Wireframe images showing position grids and surface lighting
* Albedo and surface composition maps
* Display of Jovian aurora and satelite flux footprints
* Lookup of spacecraft orientation and pointing from SPICE C-Kernels
* Output of all data in graphical and table format
* Flexible input and output coordinates, including both J2000 celestial and ecliptic systems
* Cartesian or spherical projection of sky coordinates.
* Simple web interface
* Observations for a single time or a range of times
* Rapid generation of tables of geometric parameters (distance, phase angle, etc.) over a time interval

It can be thought of along the same lines as Dave Seal's DIGIT or Mark Showalter's Jupiter Viewer, although it has advantages over both (e.g., full access to star catalogs; NH FOV's; web-based; ecliptic coordinates; simple one-page interface). Although it was written for NH, it's really a much more general tool than that. Kernels are currently included for Rosetta, Messenger and Cassini, in addition to NH.

It's used by the NH Science Team for planning future observations, and analyzing previous observations. This is essentially an internal tool that is being released externally on a trial basis, for use in planning potential NH observations. Please let me know of any significant problems.

Extensive on-line documentation, examples, and screenshots are available at http://soc.boulder.swri.edu/nhgv/gv_info.php .

Have fun!

Henry Throop
Southwest Research Institute
Boulder, CO
throop at boulder.swri.edu

[volcanopele]

I guess one quick one would be the last pre-C/A point where I could fit both Pluto and Charon in the same LORRI FOV:

http://soc.boulder.swri.edu/nhgv/gv.php?na...bmit=+++Plot+++

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[djellison]

Same rule, with the 'kids' as well.

http://soc.boulder.swri.edu/nhgv/gv.php?su...amp;title_plot=

I'm sure those with excellent skills in Excel and celestial mechanics (yes, you Hendric ) will work their magic

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[john_s]

Thanks VP and Doug! That reminds me of one more important constraint- our absolute pointing errors can be up to 1 milliradian (0.06 degrees), so we need to leave about this much space around our targets in order to be sure to catch them in the frame. So about 60% of the width of the 5 milliradian LORRI frame is "safe" for pointing in shots like this.

John

[djellison]

I was able to go out to the 26th for look-back's - but not beyond that. Maybe, just maybe, there's a tiny thin crescent full family portrait on the outbound leg as well.

60% of the frame would mean playing with a fov of .18deg to be sure of 'getting' it. The viewer takes that into account already I think, just giving a .18deg FOV for Lorri.

If an outbound P+C ( but not H+N ) pair is possible (I'm guessing there's a sun-pointing keep-out involved at some point here) and assuming the viewer already constrains the LORRI viewing box to take into account the possible pointing errors.

http://soc.boulder.swri.edu/nhgv/gv.php?su...amp;title_plot=

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[tedstryk]

The July 3rd pointing opportunity is good enough that it might justify a two frame mosaic, which would really help with that pointing constraint.

[nprev]

I don't know if I'm doing this right, nor if the time is appropriate, but this looks interesting from LORRI. Charon goes right behind Pluto & emerges on the other side...good opportunity for atmospheric observations by watching Charon refract?

EDIT: Just noticed that the occultation occurs very near Pluto's poles...an opportunity to study atmospheric dynamics in key regions? We know that a lot of action occurs on Titan in these places.

[john_s]

60% of the frame would mean playing with a fov of .18deg to be sure of 'getting' it. The viewer takes that into account already I think, just giving a .18deg FOV for Lorri.

Um, no- the viewer gives the full 0.29 degree LORRI fov...

John.

[nprev]

John, sorry to introduce another possible constraint, but is there a well-defined time frame to exclude yet? That might be helpful.

The occultation of Charon by Pluto I mentioned obviously must lie within the most intensive period of science obs, and Kodaking without true scientific value added at this time is presumably to be avoided.

[claurel]

Here's an alignment of Pluto, Charon, and Nix visible on July 1, 2015:



I found it using a New Horizons add-on for Celestia, then verified it with NHGV. Thanks for making this tool available!

--Chris

[volcanopele]

John, sorry to introduce another possible constraint, but is there a well-defined time frame to exclude yet? That might be helpful.

The occultation of Charon by Pluto I mentioned obviously must lie within the most intensive period of science obs, and Kodaking without true scientific value added at this time is presumably to be avoided.

Very true. You would also have to consider potential smear in the body not targeted in such an image.

[djellison]

Ah - I was being stupid - plot RADIUS. (duhh)

Inbound - it's a few days earlier then for P+C
http://soc.boulder.swri.edu/nhgv/gv.php?su...amp;title_plot=



And again, a few days earlier for P+C+H+N

http://soc.boulder.swri.edu/nhgv/gv.php?su...amp;title_plot=

[djellison]

And outbound, it's on the 19th - if the sun angle makes it possible. It'd be a lovely parting shot if it is.

http://soc.boulder.swri.edu/nhgv/gv.php?su...amp;title_plot=

[volcanopele]

Yeah, if this were the ISS camera on Cassini, those phase angles would be too high (I believe we are limited to phase angles less than 162 deg., unless something is blocking the Sun).

I guess a few others:

Charon Full-frame
http://soc.boulder.swri.edu/nhgv/gv.php?na...bmit=+++Plot+++

Pluto Full-frame
http://soc.boulder.swri.edu/nhgv/gv.php?su...amp;title_plot=

Nix Closest Approach (should be a nice encounter)
http://soc.boulder.swri.edu/nhgv/gv.php?na...bmit=+++Plot+++

[john_s]

Thanks for all these! To answer questions, the Charon occultation by Pluto might be observed (for instance we might use Charon to backlight nighttime hazes on the dark side of Pluto), but science would be the driver (well, 90% of the driver- we like scenery too!). Purely scenic opportunities within three hours either side of c/a are unlikely, I'd say. And regarding outbound sun angles, we think we'll be able to point within about 10 degrees of the sun, and thus image the system on departure. We are likely to have image ghosts to contend with, but that problem should be manageable.

John.

[centsworth_II]

It doesn't make sense to design a craft so that part of a camera's field
of view is obstructed, and yet it sure does invoke powerful feelings to see
part of the craft (self portraits) in any of the images it takes. I assume
this is not a possibility with NH?

[djellison]

I don't think there's any way to do that - all the instruments are essentially bolted to the vehicle and point in a similar direction.

[nprev]

Thanks for all these! To answer questions, the Charon occultation by Pluto might be observed (for instance we might use Charon to backlight nighttime hazes on the dark side of Pluto), but science would be the driver (well, 90% of the driver- we like scenery too!).

...cool!!! The emergence of Charon then would be the right opportunity for a very favorable convergence of goals.

On the other hand, maybe I'm underestimating both Charon's luminosity & Pluto's atmosphere (a big unknown at encounter time, I assume?) This is pretty close to a center occultation; any chance of looking for a partial ring of atmospheric glow on the dark side of Pluto when Charon's directly behind?

[tfisher]

Here's pretty much the last chance to get a full Pluto (& plus Charon) by MVIC in framing mode with allowance for pointing error:
link

Question: are there any of the kernels which give sufficient ephemeris to go beyond July 26? I keep getting an error when I go past
that date...

[tfisher]

Here's a chance for an MVIC family portrait (P+C+N+H), post closest approach :
link

[tfisher]

MVIC Pluto+Charon post closest approach: link

[Alan Stern]

I don't think there's any way to do that - all the instruments are essentially bolted to the vehicle and point in a similar direction.

Doug-- We thought about exactly this in 2001 when the mission was proposed. Various schemes for cameras that showed part of the s/c were considered, but in the end, practicalities intruded and this never materialized. (As an aside I suggest to the MSL team last year that they carry a mirror around that they could deploy to take rover self portraits at various locales.) Regardless, for NH, the imagers are all body mounted and none have s/c in their FOVs, which is the right way to do the science mission, public engagement aside.

-Alan

[vjkane]

Various schemes for cameras that showed part of the s/c were considered, but in the end, practicalities intruded and this never materialized. (As an aside I suggest to the MSL team last year that they carry a mirror around that they could deploy to take rover self portraits at various locales.)

Now that cameras of the capabilities of the MER navigation cameras are lightweight and (I think) pretty cheap, I'd love to see one put at the end of solar panel or other boom to look back at the spacecraft purely for public relations purposes. This would require the project to be willing to add a piece of equipment that doesn't have the same testing requirements as the essential parts of the craft -- i.e., give it your best shot, but it's not a mission requirement.

As it is, I'm delighted that Juno has a camera for public relations, even though it won't see any part of the spacecraft.

[nprev]

This would require the project to be willing to add a piece of equipment that doesn't have the same testing requirements as the essential parts of the craft -- i.e., give it your best shot, but it's not a mission requirement.

I'd love to see that too, but gotta urge caution with respect to requirement definition. If it doesn't have to work & doesn't have a significant mass budget impact, that's all well & good. You'd still have to test it pretty thoroughly at the system level to be certain that it doesn't have a possible failure mode that could take out other mission-critical capabilities, though (power, databus, etc.); what a fiasco that would be!

[mcaplinger]

You'd still have to test it pretty thoroughly at the system level to be certain that it doesn't have a possible failure mode that could take out other mission-critical capabilities, though (power, databus, etc.)...

Payload items in general are designed so that the worst-case failure modes (dead shorts on the power bus and data lines, usually) don't affect anything else. You don't have to test this, it's shown by design.

Spacecraft designers never trust payload to not screw up in the worst possible way

[vjkane]

You'd still have to test it pretty thoroughly at the system level to be certain that it doesn't have a possible failure mode that could take out other mission-critical capabilities, though (power, databus, etc.); what a fiasco that would be!

Which is why I don't think we'll ever see cameras that can view the spacecraft. Each one introduces a failure mode. As I said, I am just glad that Juno has a camera, although we'll see if it survives the inevitable descope/money crunch that seems to occur in all significant technology designs/development.

[mcaplinger]

Which is why I don't think we'll ever see cameras that can view the spacecraft. Each one introduces a failure mode.

If properly designed, they needn't introduce a failure mode.

But they do cost resources, and pretty pictures alone aren't usually considered worth it. But there are sound engineering reasons to want to view parts of the spacecraft (to verify deployments, for example) and these may end up flying if the need is judged sufficient. An example would be the RocketCams on various launch vehicles.

[djellison]

Which is why I don't think we'll ever see cameras that can view the spacecraft.

Well - the MI on MER can and does observe PARTS of the spacecraft. If you had an MI that could pull focus, you could photograph bigger chunks of the spacecraft. Like MSL's MAHLI Creative sequencing of the MSL IDD could allow some stitched images that cover quite a bit of MSL.

Doug

[Pavel]

Maybe we need a separate mission, which would be dedicated to observing the spacecraft itself. The spacecraft would visit several planets to make pictures of itself in front of those remote worlds. The mission could be called Narcissus

[ElkGroveDan]

The mission could be called Narcissus

[nprev]

If properly designed, they needn't introduce a failure mode.

Unfortunately, even if properly designed, 'unknown unknowns' can crop up during follow-on integration testing in most unwelcome and unexpected ways. Nobody knows of them until extremely rigorous and expensive effort has occurred, and sometimes this can't all be completed until after launch for planetary missions.

All I'm saying here is that the risk had better be worth the reward.

[mcaplinger]

All I'm saying here is that the risk had better be worth the reward.

It is indeed true that if this kind of thinking prevails, we will be unlikely to ever see cameras added mostly just for pretty pictures.

[throop]

Question: are there any of the kernels which give sufficient ephemeris to go beyond July 26? I keep getting an error when I go past
that date...

tfisher --

Indeed, right now our trajectory kernel just goes out to July 26. We have a new kernel on the way in the next week or so that may go out further out (but I'm not sure); I'll post when I've put it into NHGV. The new kernel will tweak the timing by a couple of minutes, but will be a minor change in the big scheme.

-Henry Throop
SWRI

[john_s]

Update on the timing- we'll be having a meeting next Tuesday, April 15th, to discuss "Kodak" ideas from UMSF and how we might incorporate them into the encounter plan, so it would be great to have your ideas before then.

Thanks again,
John.

[djellison]

I'll sort out the 'first' and 'last' chance fit-in-a-frame family portraits and post them all as screenshots with timings etc into ppt slides and attach it, probably this weekend.

Doug

[Juramike]

How about a sequence of Charon sliding around Pluto? Images taken at 3 h intervals starting at 21:00 July 9 and aimed at about the midpoint (not the barycenter) between the two bodies, end of sequence is at 9:00 July 11:
[This is where the voiceover announcer states "The Pluto-Charon system is more a binary system due to the masses of the two bodies..."]

Link to sequence here.



Bonus: May see teaser albedo changes as Pluto rotates around.


If I had to only chose one still in the sequence for my favorite, it would be at 12:00 on July 10:



Link to still image here

-Mike

[Juramike]

Same concept as above, but a bit earlier (starting July 7 at 8:00:00)



Link to sequence here.

-Mike

[CAP-Team]

tfisher --

Indeed, right now our trajectory kernel just goes out to July 26. We have a new kernel on the way in the next week or so that may go out further out (but I'm not sure); I'll post when I've put it into NHGV. The new kernel will tweak the timing by a couple of minutes, but will be a minor change in the big scheme.

-Henry Throop
SWRI

Henry, can you post a link to a decent .bsp file with the New Horizons trajectory? I've been looking for that on NASA's NAIF site, but with no luck

[Juramike]

Similar sequence as above (image every 3 hours) but this time post C/A (July 19 12:00 to July 23 06:00):



Sequence here.

-Mike

[throop]

Henry, can you post a link to a decent .bsp file with the New Horizons trajectory? I've been looking for that on NASA's NAIF site, but with no luck

It's been requested by the mission that we not post the entire bsp trajectory online. However, send me an e-mail (throop at boulder.swri.edu) and I will put you in touch with the mission designer at APL, who will send you the spice files on an individual basis.

-Henry

[hendric]

Dang, you take a few weeks off UMSF and all hell breaks loose. I don't have much time to contribute anything before the 15th, unfortunately, unless I plan on skipping sleep and ignoring visiting relatives.

Some additional ideas I haven't seen yet thrown out:

1. Planets? Anything near to a Pluto system object that would make a good outgoing photoshoot?
2. Starfields? Does the swingby put any interesting backgrounds to the planets? The Pluto shots will be longer than most shots we've seen. Sounds like a great time to do some astrophotography!
3. What about deep sky? Any interesting nebulas, clusters, galaxies, etc we can put in the background? A quick cursory look well before and after the flyby didn't really make anything jump out on Google Sky, but I didn't do a deep check with real planetarium software.

I did see this, where Hydra should be passing just close enough to a globular cluster in Ophiuchus for a possible shot:

http://soc.boulder.swri.edu/nhgv/gv.php?su...amp;title_plot=

The tool doesn't plot globs, but you can see it at:

maps.google.com/sky enter in 17:27:45, -05:04:30 for the search

I couldn't find a decent map of Oph to get a name for it; I'll try to update later.

John, how long of a shot would you need for a decent exposure of Hydra (based on what we know now of course)? Maybe one of the cruise phase instrument checkouts could be to take a shot of the globular before we get to Pluto.

[dragonchild]

Hello all. Not that anyone's heard of me, but I've been champing at the bit to see a close-up of Pluto since Voyager 2's Neptune flyby (I still mourn the Pluto Kuiper Express). I'm excited for a chance to provide input. But first, why "Kodak moment" when "glamour shot" is more accurate and doesn't involve a corporate trademark? Anyway, on to point:

A close up of Pluto & Charon is an obvious choice, and as a casual fan I'm not well-versed in Ralph's capabilities or the angles the New Horizons probe is willing/able to deal with. So I'm going to throw my brainstorming ideas out there for the experts to pick apart:

1) Within the last few months prior to approach, turn NH around and snap a "good-bye" shot conceptually similar to Voyager 1's family portrait. Unlike Voyager 1, though, I'm thinking a wide-angle "You Are Here" color shot of what a high noon starfield might look like on Pluto, where the Sun is as close to the middle of the image as possible (e.g. on a 1024x1024 CCD try to put Sol's center at x=y=512). Technically NH would still be a good distance from Pluto itself but for the purposes of a pretty picture a few months prior is far more convenient and I doubt the public will notice the difference.
2) On the other extreme end, try to zoom in to Pluto's horizon as much as possible; maybe capture a Charon moonrise. More specifically, not fit both in the same LORRI FOV so much as get the closest, highest-res pic that includes one or both surfaces.
3) During mapping get a trustworthy volunteer to scour the surface for any curiosities worthy of a close-up. . . I guess this is already part of the plan?
4) If by some miracle a glamour shot of a KBO is possible, that'd be nice.
5) Is it possible to capture a shot of Pluto with stars behind it? In most planetary close-ups I'm aware that sunlight reflecting off the planet surface washes out the stars but Pluto's far enough away that with the right exposure time, a relatively far picture (Pluto taking up maybe 1% of the picture) might work, assuming there's something interesting to look at behind it.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'll check back because I'm curious at how hilariously unfeasible some of these might be.

[hendric]

Here are some photo opps I found. It'll be hard to get a good picture though:

NIX passes near the Eagle Nebula: 2015 Jul 14 04:30:00
NIX passes near/through bright star field 2015 Jul 14 07:30:00
NIX passes in front of dim galaxy MCG-2-51-4, Mag 14.5, 2015 Jul 14 10:27:57
NIX passes in front of Globular Cluster M72 (!) Mag 9.4 2015 Jul 14 10:39:55 - moving really fast though
NIX passes in front of Cluster M73 Mag 9.0 2015 Jul 14 10:41:20 - moving really fast again

HYDRA passes near Globular Cluster NGC2419 Mag 10.4 2015 Jul 14:29:00
HYDRA passes in front of Open Cluster NGC2266 Mag 10 2015 Jul 14 17:35:00
HYDRA passes near IC2162 Mag 10 2015 Jul 15 09:00:00

CHARON passes in front of GSC5668:1486 Mag 4.2 (!) 2015 Jul 14 06:05:00 (slowly), exits 06:17:00
CHARON passes in front of Earth/Mercury/Mars 2015 Jul 14 14:14:00 (but most are dark, except for Mercury)


John, were these only going to be LORRI shots? .3' isn't much of a field to work with.

[john_s]

Hi Hendric-

Thanks for that list- we'll check them out. One date/time got garbled- "HYDRA passes near Globular Cluster NGC2419 Mag 10.4 2015 Jul 14:29:00" - can you clarify?

Oh, and MVIC is fair game too, with wide field and color, but 4x resolution reduction of course.

John.

[hendric]

No problem John, the correct date/time is 2015 Jul 14 14:28:30. It looks like this would have to be an MVIC shot. However, HYDRA does look to be moving very fast, and if you need to hold the shutter open more than a few seconds, it looks like it would blur either the foreground or background.

[illexsquid]

I hope I'm not to late to be useful, but I noticed that following Nix backward in time from the date of the encounter, it drew closer and closer to Hydra. Following that all the way back to June 18, 2015 led to a close encounter, and at about 13:40 we get an interesting syzygy of all four bodies:

link

Not overly spectacular, but it does have the advantage of being nearly a month before the encounter and so hopefully during a, er, less busy time.

Actually, I really just wanted the opportunity to use the word syzygy.

[helvick]

Excellent first post. Welcome aboard.

[illexsquid]

Excellent first post. Welcome aboard.

Long time, first time.

[lyford]

looks kewl, and thanks for turning me on to the word "syzygy"

[Juramike]

"syzygy"

Which is perhaps one of the best words ever for six-letter-dups-allowed jotto.
(The taste of defeat still rings metallic in my mouth.)

[john_s]

... and at about 13:40 we get an interesting syzygy of all four bodies:

Cool! We might give that one a shot.

Thanks,
John.

[tfisher]

Cool! We might give that one a shot.

:^) For outreach purposes just being able to have "Syzygy" as the headline word may be enough to pick up a little extra distribution. It really is a cool word!

[nprev]

Gotta be careful, though. Last time I said the word "syzygy" to someone, the response I got was "gesundheit"....

[nprev]

John, has the team made any Kodak shot selections yet? (I'm rooting for the syzygy!)

[john_s]

Nothing definite yet. We are having a "feasibility review" next week where we see whether we can meet all our prime science goals given available resources, so we have a draft timeline which does not yet include specifically "Kodak" images (though of course every image we take will be awesomely beautiful :-) ). We'll add the "Kodak" images, or tweak existing images to meet "Kodak" goals, once we see what resources are left. Observations a long time from closest approach, like the syzygy one, are of course easier to add, so that one has a relatively good chance for reasons in addition to its cool name.

[nprev]

Sorry for the resurrection here, but this very thread was mentioned prominently in an excellent NH article by Alan in the June 2010 issue of Sky & Telescope. Dr. Stern also referred to some of our members as "advanced amateur planetary scientists"-- high praise indeed!

[illexsquid]

When I read that article on the bus I so wanted to turn to the strangers next me and brag, "I posted to that thread!!!!" But I'm sure I was a lot more excited than they would be.

[machi]

As well sorry for resurrection of this thread but as I cannot found here or in New Horizons main thread results of the selection process of kodak moments for Pluto/Charon system,
I found one which is probably selected as observation "P_MVIC_LORRI_CA".
It's this one.
Evidently Charon will no be entire in MVIC frame but I think that it will be fantastic image.
Drawback is that MVIC will be working only in panchromatic mode (according to this article) so image will be only BW.

[nprev]

\o/.…

[john_s]

Bear in mind that these big scans take time to execute, and Pluto and Charon are moving relative to each other during the scan. Depending on exactly where Pluto is during the sequence (its position is somewhat uncertain, and the scan design takes that into account), Charon is quite likely to be hidden behind Pluto during the observation. So I think it's most likely (but not certain) that we'll miss that cool view of Charon peeking out from behind Pluto. That's a shame, but we're collecting our prime science data at this time, and can't afford to compromise the designs for scenic purposes.

Regarding the rest of the "Kodak" observations that were requested, we've accommodated as many as possible, though the bulls-eye geometry of the system on approach and departure, and the intensity of activities near closest approach, mean that we don't have the same opportunities to observe transits and conjunctions as we did at Jupiter. Still, I don't think anyone will be disappointed by the views we'll get!

John

[machi]

Thanks for your reminders.
As I understand it takes ~80 seconds for MVIC to image Pluto in this observation.
If ephemerides are precise enough it still can be possible with some luck.
But as you said, images will be definitely breathtaking even without this.