RECON is gearing up for an important science opportunity involving Pluto.  As shown below, the shadow path of Pluto passes over most of the United States as the dwarf planet occults star GA0680:34878053 on Tuesday evening, August 14 (August 15 around 05:30UTC).

Shadow path prediction for Pluto occultation provided by RECON

We’ve posted a star field image of GA0680:34878053 on the Pluto Occultation Event Page.  Because the target star is relatively bright (mag 13.0), RECON sites will be recording this event with a sense-up of 32x.

Pluto starfield at senseup 32x

As with all RECON campaigns, we ask that team members practice taking a recording of the target star field prior to event night. This provides an opportunity to test out RECON equipment and build confidence in recognizing the star field. During the practice session, we also encourage team members to confirm that their Camera Settings are set properly.

Good luck to our RECON sites as well as all other observers planning to participate in this important occultation opportunity!