First Stellar Occultation Observation with SOFIA

We successfully observed the 2011 June 23 UT stellar occultation by Pluto with the High-speed Imaging Photometer for Occultations (HIPO) instrument from Lowell Observatory and the Fast Diagnostic Camera (FDC) from the Deutches SOFIA Institut (DSI) mounted on the SOFIA telescope. A major prediction astrometry effort focused at MIT combined with the willingness of the SOFIA project to entertain the idea of an in-flight change to the flight plan allowed us to target the center of the occultation shadow. This was accomplished by means of an in-flight prediction update by satellite telephone and a real-time onboard flight plan modification to accommodate the prediction update. We obtained excellent results with both channels of HIPO and the FDC with each light curve showing a small, extended brightening while the star was occulted. We will discuss analysis results as well as SOFIA's considerable potential for future occultation work.

We thank the SOFIA program for its willingness to attempt this challenging observation at such an early stage of SOFIA science operations. Lowell's SOFIA work was supported by a grant from USRA, MIT's prediction work was supported by the NASA Planetary Astronomy Program and the National Science Foundation, and the FDC work was supported by the DSI. We thank the US Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station for allowing us to use their facilities to obtain our prediction astrometry observations.