P126 Occultation


This is a quickie page to provide access to prediction products and other information on the P126A occultation by Pluto in July 2002.

I've written an account of my experiences doing this occultation observation. I hope you find this interesting.

Finder Chart

This prediction is based on the UCAC catalog down to 16th magnitude stars. From this list, all stars in all frames on the first night were averaged (keeping only consistent objects) to create a secondary net. This secondary net is used throughout this analysis to provide an astrometric solution for each image using a pure linear plate solution. The reference net then provides the mapping from pixel (x,y) to sky (ra,dec). The positions for P126A/B, Pluto, and Charon and their fluxes were fitted using a stacked psf from each image. The x,y positions for P126A and Pluto were then converted to ra,dec and then compared against the catalog position for P126 and the JPL DE403 ephemeris to derive an offset from the measurements against the "known" position and motion. These offsets are summarized in a table individually for each prediction. In general, you'll most want to look at the most recent prediction.

  • Prediction #03 - 2002 July 14

  • Prediction #02 - 2002 July 14

  • Prediction #01 - 2002 July 13