KBO encounters Options

[SFJCody]

Will these get minor planet temporary designations?

[Marz]

Will these get minor planet temporary designations?

Here's the wording from the FAQ:

"How do the results get published?

Kuiper Belt Objects: All discovered KBOs will be submitted to the Minor Planet Center. The submission will be led by the scientists who are making all the observations, reducing the data, and calculating all the orbits. Within the submission, the name of every person who marked a discovered KBO will be listed. We will also maintain a catalogue on this site of all the discovered objects and all the discovery makers. Please note: Due to the restrictions on how things can get submitted, we can only include real last names and initials. We cannot use online alias.

Variable Stars: All discovered variable stars will be catalogued and submitted for publication in a to be determined journal. The submission will be led by team scientists and each object will be listed with the names of the individuals who discovered them.

Asteroids: Most of the objects noted by this project do not have sufficient data to calculate orbits. If sufficient data is achieved for any of our asteroids, they will be submitted to the Minor Planet Center and the discovery team will be allowed to name the object. "


FYI: there's new images to work on at http://cosmoquest.org/iceinvestigators/

[centsworth_II]

An interesting video display of KBOs so far found along New Horizon's path. Right now there are no new images to view in the KBO search... more coming in the future.

[Explorer1]

Anyone else getting a real Star Wars vibe from those sound effects and visuals?
Just need a lost TIE fighter now...

[john_s]

Also, check out the webcast videos on the New Horizons web site, about our July 2011 KBO search observing run on the Subaru telescope on Mauna Kea:
http://www.pluto.jhuapl.edu/gallery/videos/podcast.php

John

[Paolo]

posted a few minutes ago on NewHorizons2015 twitter:

FLASH! Possible distant but interesting New Horizons KBO flyby in Jan 2[0]15, BEFORE Pluto!

[remcook]

Oh, that would be nice! Looking forward to the details.

[tedstryk]

Looking forward to seeing what this is...distant flyby can mean a lot of things.

[Phil Stooke]

"FLASH! Our possible KBO encounter in Jan 2015 is not a close flyby-75 million km off-but there's science in it no other observatory can do! "

Not a close-up!


Phil

[Paolo]

also:

About the Jan 21o5 KBO, It's VNH0004; need orbit refinements to make sure & see if we can weave it in: Pluto flyby also starts in Jan '15! About the Jan 21o5 KBO, It's VNH0004; need orbit refinements to make sure & see if we can weave it in: Pluto flyby also starts in Jan '15!

And by the way, VNH0004 is our own unofficial designation for the KBO, no IAU tag yet.

[stevesliva]

Just light curves? Or something more like resolving satellites?

[Paolo]

probably characterization of a KBO at phase angles impossible from Earth

[algorimancer]

I wonder whether it would be feasible/worthwhile to have the New Horizons spacecraft itself performing an ongoing active search for targetable objects, then perform an autonomous imaging campaign, kind of like the MER rovers could be configured to scan for dust devils and record them. Possibly this mode would be better left until after the Pluto flyby. Years ago this thought occurred to me with regard to the Voyager probes, but that was shortly after they permanently disabled their cameras.

[Phil Stooke]

I would have thought it could not possibly go as deep as a big ground or orbital telescope... and it wouldn't work during hibernation periods.

Phil

[algorimancer]

...thought it could not possibly go as deep as a big ground or orbital telescope... and it wouldn't work during hibernation periods.

Agreed, but it could potentially catch smaller/darker objects which the ground/orbital telescopes would miss, when it is close enough to them -- which is why it would likely need to be a fairly active search, with capability for quick response. No, this would not work during hibernation periods, but presumably once past Pluto -- since it is nuclear powered and need not ration power -- it can simply be set in an active/automated mode where it regularly looks ahead seeking nearby objects which will be made obvious by rapid changes in brightness/position, then images them as it passes by. This would require little energy, and probably no active maneuvering beyond orienting the cameras to follow an object during flyby.