Investigation of particle sizes in Pluto's atmosphere from the 29 June 2015 occultation

The 29 June 2015 observations of a stellar occultation by Pluto, from SOFIA and ground-based sites in New Zealand, indicate that haze was present in the lower atmosphere (Bosh et al., this conference). Previously, slope changes in the occultation light curve profile of Pluto’s lower atmosphere have been attributed to haze, a steep thermal gradient, and/or a combination of the two. The most useful diagnostic for differentiating between these effects has been observing occultations over a range of wavelengths: haze scattering and absorption are functions of particle size and are wavelength dependent, whereas effects due to a temperature gradient should be largely independent of observational wavelength. The SOFIA and Mt. John data from this event exhibit obvious central flashes, from multiple telescopes observing over a range of wavelengths at each site (Person et al. and Pasachoff et al., this conference). SOFIA data include Red and Blue observations from the High-speed Imaging Photometer for Occultations (HIPO, at ~ 500 and 850 nm), First Light Infrared Test Camera (FLITECAM, at ~1800 nm), and the Focal Plan Imager (FPI+, at ~ 600 nm). Mt. John data include open filter, g', r', i', and near infrared. Here, we analyze the flux at the bottom of the light curves versus observed wavelength. We find that there is a distinct trend in flux versus wavelength, and we discuss applicable Mie scattering models for different particle size distributions and compositions (as were used to characterize haze in Pluto's lower atmosphere in Gulbis et al. 2015).SOFIA is jointly operated by the Universities Space Research Association, Inc. (USRA), under NASA contract NAS2-97001, and the Deutsches SOFIA Institut (DSI) under DLR contract 50 OK 0901 to the University of Stuttgart. Support for this work was provided by the National Research Foundation of South Africa, NASA SSO grants NNX15AJ82G (Lowell Observatory), PA NNX10AB27G (MIT), and PA NNX12AJ29G (Williams College), and the NASA SOFIA Cycle 3 grant NAS2-97001 issued by USRA.