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

[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.