Cool! We might give that one a shot.

Thanks,
John.

:^) For outreach purposes just being able to have "Syzygy" as the headline word may be enough to pick up a little extra distribution. It really is a cool word!

Gotta be careful, though. Last time I said the word "syzygy" to someone, the response I got was "gesundheit"....

John, has the team made any Kodak shot selections yet? (I'm rooting for the syzygy!)

Nothing definite yet. We are having a "feasibility review" next week where we see whether we can meet all our prime science goals given available resources, so we have a draft timeline which does not yet include specifically "Kodak" images (though of course every image we take will be awesomely beautiful :-) ). We'll add the "Kodak" images, or tweak existing images to meet "Kodak" goals, once we see what resources are left. Observations a long time from closest approach, like the syzygy one, are of course easier to add, so that one has a relatively good chance for reasons in addition to its cool name.

Sorry for the resurrection here, but this very thread was mentioned prominently in an excellent NH article by Alan in the June 2010 issue of Sky & Telescope. Dr. Stern also referred to some of our members as "advanced amateur planetary scientists"-- high praise indeed!

When I read that article on the bus I so wanted to turn to the strangers next me and brag, "I posted to that thread!!!!" But I'm sure I was a lot more excited than they would be.

As well sorry for resurrection of this thread but as I cannot found here or in New Horizons main thread results of the selection process of kodak moments for Pluto/Charon system,
I found one which is probably selected as observation "P_MVIC_LORRI_CA".
It's this one.
Evidently Charon will no be entire in MVIC frame but I think that it will be fantastic image.
Drawback is that MVIC will be working only in panchromatic mode (according to this article) so image will be only BW.

\o/.…

Bear in mind that these big scans take time to execute, and Pluto and Charon are moving relative to each other during the scan. Depending on exactly where Pluto is during the sequence (its position is somewhat uncertain, and the scan design takes that into account), Charon is quite likely to be hidden behind Pluto during the observation. So I think it's most likely (but not certain) that we'll miss that cool view of Charon peeking out from behind Pluto. That's a shame, but we're collecting our prime science data at this time, and can't afford to compromise the designs for scenic purposes.

Regarding the rest of the "Kodak" observations that were requested, we've accommodated as many as possible, though the bulls-eye geometry of the system on approach and departure, and the intensity of activities near closest approach, mean that we don't have the same opportunities to observe transits and conjunctions as we did at Jupiter. Still, I don't think anyone will be disappointed by the views we'll get!

John

Thanks for your reminders.
As I understand it takes ~80 seconds for MVIC to image Pluto in this observation.
If ephemerides are precise enough it still can be possible with some luck.
But as you said, images will be definitely breathtaking even without this.