Marc and the New Horizons team successfully measured 2014 MU69 during an occultation opportunity during July. Check out the radio interview produced by “How On Earth” earlier this week!
Shadow Chasers (Photo: Jack Jewell)
There are two main belt asteroid occultation opportunities for teams located from:
Both campaigns are optional, but they provide great practice opportunities and will contribute to IOTA efforts. Participating teams are encouraged to sign up using OccultWatcher (or to contact John Keller so that he can sign your team up on OW). Details are provided below.
(1428) Mombasa:
RECON Teams: North Lake OR to Portola CA
Date: 22 Jul 2017 at 06:21 UT
Recording Window: 06:20-06:23 UT
Sense-up: 32x
IOTA Details: http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2017_07/0722_1428_58040.htm
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2017_07/0722_1428_58040_Map.gif
(76) Freia:
RECON Teams: Bishop CA to Lake Havasu City AZ
Date: 23 Jul 2017 at 06:04 UT
Recording Window: 06:03-06:06 UT
Sense-up: 16x
IOTA Details: http://asteroidoccultation.com/2017_07/0723_76_58054.htm
http://asteroidoccultation.com/2017_07/0723_76_58054_Map.gif
Happy Fourth of July, RECON!!!
We wanted to provide a heads up about an exciting opportunity to measure Chiron, a 100-km Centaur with suspected ring structure(s)! We will have an event page up shortly, but the map below provided by LESIA at L’Observatoire de Paris shows that the probabilities of successfully recording this object are high and that the extended RECON network down to Arizona is well positioned to map any extended structures associated with the main body!
Prediction map for occultation by Centaur Chiron on 2017 August 15 UT
The event will occur early on the morning of Tuesday, August 15 around 11:51 UT (4:51AM PDT/MST). Twilight will be approaching during the occultation, but there should be plenty of time to get onto the field prior to this. Mark your calendars now and stay tuned for details!
Marc has uploaded a new podcast regarding the New Horizons occultation campaign earlier this month involving 2014 MU69. The podcast series can be accessed using any browser and no downloads are needed to hear it through the SoundCloud player below. You can also subscribe to our podcasts through itunes which can be found by searching “tnorecon”.
Sky & Telescope just published a nice article about last week’s Southern Hemisphere occultation involving 2014 MU69:
Observers Track New Horizons’ Next Target – Sky & Telescope
All teams on the campaign collected useable data which is currently being analyzed. A photo of RECON Team Member Robert Reaves from Parker, Arizona is included in the article.
RECON Team Member Robert Reaves participating in MU69 campaign in Argentina
This is an exciting week for RECON Principal Investigator Marc Buie as well as RECON team member Robert Reaves from Parker, Arizona. Marc is leading a dual continent occultation campaign involving 22 telescopes being deployed in Argentina and South Africa to measure the shadow of 2014 MU69, the next target for the NASA New Horizons mission. This Friday evening (2017 June 3 at 03:11:50 UT) 22 teams will be deployed on both continents for the first of three occultation opportunities this summer.
Marc invited RECON team member Robert Reaves to join one of these teams for this week’s event. Both Marc and Robert are currently in South America prepping for the big event. For the next occultation opportunity in early July, Charlene Weisenborn from our Searchlight / Boulder City team will be participating as well.
Marc has been centrally in charge of working on predictions for these campaigns using Hubble and Gaia data. In addition to observing form Argentina this week, he will also be flying aboard NASA SOFIA during the July event. According to Marc, our experience setting up the RECON network of over 50 telescope sites has been very valuable in prepping for these campaigns. Because 2014 MU69 is only thought to be around 30 km, the spacing of the network will be much tighter than RECON, with telescopes spaced roughly every 10 km rather than 50 km.
For more information, you can check out the New Horizon’s Webpage and the following post: New Horizons Deploys Global Team for Rare Look at Next Flyby Target
Over the next six weeks, the New Horizons mission team gets an “MU69” preview of sorts – and a chance to gather some critical encounter-planning information – with a rare look at their target object from Earth.
Good luck, Marc, Robert, and all involved in Friday’s campaign!
We’re looking for feedback from team members to help us plan our upcoming RECON Team Meeting this Fall. Thank you for completing the 2017 RECON Team Meeting Survey.
Thanks! John and Marc
Get to know one of our 55 unique RECON communities!
Sisters, OR
Sisters is a charming town in central Oregon with a population of just over 2,000 people. Since Sisters joined in Spring of 2015, the team has grown to include students and teachers from Sisters High School and local community members. The team was initiated by retired park ranger Thomas Jeffrey, local teacher Rima Givot, and the Sisters Astronomy Club. Students Rylee Funk and Alex Burroughs have demonstrated strong leadership for this team. For more information about the Sisters team, check out their Instagram page below!
To explore the full list of RECON communities, visit our communities page. 
If your community is interested in creating a profile either on social media or through the RECON website, email us at recon@calpoly.edu.
We’re excited to announce our series of podcasts! Check out our first episode available on SoundCloud below! In this week’s podcast, Marc Buie describes his current work in preparation for summer occultation campaigns for the New Horizons mission, shares a Venus viewing opportunity, provides tips on timing and sense-up, and previews the April RECON event.
The podcast can be accessed using any browser and no downloads are needed to hear it. Podcasts are now available on itunes and can be found by clicking on the previous link or searching “tnorecon”!
The RECON network is made of over 55 communities on the Western United States ranging from Washington to Arizona, made of teachers, students, volunteers, and countless community members who are enthusiastic about science.
Oregon Observatory
The Oregon Observatory is located in Sunriver, a resort community in central Oregon near the Bend area. This community joined RECON in the Spring of 2015 and is made of a team of amateur astronomers and students led by Robert Grossfeld. The Observatory is one of six volunteer communities in the RECON network that has provided their own equipment for observing occultations.
The Observatory is open to the public and serves as an educational and research resource for the Sunriver community. For more information about the Oregon Observatory, visit www.oregonobservatory.org.
To explore the full list of RECON communities, visit our communities page.
If your community is interested in creating a profile either on social media or through the RECON website, email us at recon@calpoly.edu.