Development of Portable High-Speed Telescopes and Cameras for Studying Solar System Objects During Stellar Occultations

Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio TX

Investigators

Abstract

This program will develop three telescopes with low-noise, high-speed detectors that can be deployed to observe occultations around the world. Occultation events can provide the highest spatial resolution of solar system objects in lieu of a close spacecraft encounter. In the next few years there are excellent opportunities to study the rapidly evolving atmospheres of Pluto and Triton. The predicted state of Pluto's atmosphere is of paramount importance to the Pluto-Kuiper Belt mission's sequencing planning for its encounter in 2014-2016. There are opportunities to study centaur objects with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. Finally, recent improvements to stellar position catalogs and Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) orbit determinations will allow the first accurate measurements of KBO sizes via occultations. Collaborators at the University of Colorado and Wellesley College will use these systems to train the next generation of observational astronomers. The observations and results will be made available for public use.