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Pluto-Charon stellar occultation candidates - 1990-1995A search to identify stars that might be occulted by Pluto or Charon during the period 1990-1995 and part of 1996 is studied. This search was made with an unfiltered CCD camera operated in the strip scanning mode, and it reaches an R magnitude of approximately 17.5 - about 1.5 mag fainter than previous searches. Circumstances for each of the 162 potential occultations are given, including an approximate R magnitude of the star, which allows estimation of the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) for observation of each occultation. The faintest stars in the list would yield an S/N of about 20 for a 1 s integration when observed with a CCD detector on an 8 m telescope under a dark sky. The astrometric precision (+/- 0.2 arcsec, with larger systematic errors possible for individual cases) is insufficient to serve as a final prediction for these potential occultations, but is sufficient to identify stars deserving of further, more accurate, astrometric observations. Statistically, about 32 of these events to be observable somewhere on earth are expected. The number of events actually observed will be substantially smaller because of clouds and the sparse distribution of large telescopes. Finder charts for each of the 91 stars involved are presented.
Document ID
19910069500
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Dunham, E. W.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Mcdonald, S. W.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Elliot, J. L.
(MIT Cambridge, MA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2013
Publication Date
October 1, 1991
Publication Information
Publication: Astronomical Journal
Volume: 102
ISSN: 0004-6256
Subject Category
Astronomy
Accession Number
91A54123
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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