Astrometrical Observations of Pluto - Charon System with the Automated Telescopes of Pulkovo Observatory

TL;DR

This paper reports ground-based astrometric observations of the Pluto-Charon system using automated telescopes, aiming to complement spacecraft data and improve positional understanding of this distant system.

Contribution

It presents a reprocessing of over 350 observations of Pluto-Charon with new software and simulations to analyze positional differences, enhancing ground-based data accuracy.

Findings

Over 350 positional observations analyzed

Differences between photocenter and barycenter calculated

Ground-based data complements spacecraft observations

Abstract

The space probe 'New Horizon' was launched on 19th of January 2006 in order to study Pluto and its moons. Spacecraft will fly by Pluto as close as 12500 km in the middle of July 2015 and will get the most detailed images of Pluto and its moon until this moment. At the same time, observation obtained by the ground-based telescopes may also be helpful for the research of such distant system. Thereby, the Laboratory of observational astrometry of Pulkovo Observatory of RAS made a decision to reprocess observations obtained during last decade. More than 350 positional observations of Pluto - Charon system were carried out with the mirror astrograph ZA-320M at Pulkovo and Maksutov telescope MTM-500M near Kislovodsk. These observations were processed by means of software system APEX-II developed in Pulkovo observatory and numerical simulation was performed to calculate the differences between positions of photocenter and barycenter of Pluto - Charon system.