The Division for Planetary Science' (DPS) annual meeting unfolded last week in Denver, CO. This is the main gathering for Solar System and exoplanet scientists, and LCOGT, of course, was there!
Federica Bianco presented in a poster a collection of occultation results obtained with the LCOGT telescopes over the course of the past few years. Here is a small gallery of videos and information on a few of the occultations the that our system observed. Highlights include the discovery of a shell of material around Chiron, and that the atmosphere of Pluto is expanding. Occultations happen when a foreground object transits in front of a background star (these events are usually called transits if the angular size of the star is larger than that of the transiting object, occultation otherwise). Stellar occultations are key in probing the Solar System beyond the limits of direct observations and allowed the discovery, for example, of the rings of Uranus, and atmosphere of Pluto. Occultations are a team job: if the occultation is observed from multiple sites meaningful constrains can be set on the size, shape, or atmosphere of the occulter. Thus when an event is expected a number of observers, professional and amateur, are called to observe. These observations are challenging though: the events last at best a few seconds, so high speed photometry is required. With multiple sites, and equipped with the LIHSP high speed photometers, LCOGT has proven in more than one occasion to be ideal for occultations!
