[meteorite-list] NASA Hubble to Begin Search Beyond Pluto for a New Horizons Mission Target

[Ron Baalke]

June 16, 2014
     
NASA Hubble to Begin Search Beyond Pluto for a New Horizons Mission Target

After careful consideration and analysis, the Hubble Space Telescope Time 
Allocation Committee has recommended using Hubble to search for an object the 
Pluto-bound NASA New Horizons mission could visit after its flyby of Pluto in 
July 2015.

The planned search will involve targeting a small area of sky in search of a 
Kuiper Belt object (KBO) for the outbound spacecraft to visit. The Kuiper 
Belt is a vast debris field of icy bodies left over from the solar system's 
formation 4.6 billion years ago. A KBO has never been seen up close because 
the belt is so far from the sun, stretching out to a distance of 5 billion 
miles into a never-before-visited frontier of the solar system.

"I am pleased that our science peer-review process arrived at a consensus as 
to how to effectively use Hubble's unique capabilities to support the science 
goals of the New Horizons mission," said Matt Mountain, director of the Space 
Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland.

Fully carrying out the KBO search is contingent on the results from a pilot 
observation using Hubble data.

The space telescope will scan an area of sky in the direction of the 
constellation Sagittarius to try and identify any objects orbiting within the 
Kuiper Belt. To discriminate between a foreground KBO and the clutter of 
background stars in Sagittarius, the telescope will turn at the predicted 
rate that KBOs are moving against the background stars. In the resulting 
images, the stars will be streaked, but any KBOs should appear as pinpoint 
objects.

If the test observation identifies at least two KBOs of a specified 
brightness it will demonstrate statistically that Hubble has a chance of 
finding an appropriate KBO for New Horizons to visit. At that point, an 
additional allotment of observing time will continue the search across a 
field of view roughly the angular size of the full moon.

Astronomers around the world apply for observing time on the Hubble Space 
Telescope. Competition for time on the telescope is extremely intense and the 
requested observing time significantly exceeds the observing time available 
in a given year. Proposals must address significant astronomical questions 
that can only be addressed with Hubble's unique capabilities, and are beyond 
the capabilities of ground-based telescopes. The proposals are peer reviewed 
annually by an expert committee, which looks for the best possible science 
that can be conducted by Hubble and recommends to the Space Telescope Science 
Institute director a balanced program of small, medium, and large 
investigations.

Though Hubble is powerful enough to see galaxies near the horizon of the 
universe, finding a KBO is a challenging needle-in-haystack search. A typical 
KBO along the New Horizons trajectory may be no larger than Manhattan Island 
and as black as charcoal.

Even before the launch of New Horizons in 2006, Hubble has provided 
consistent support for this edge-of-the-solar system mission. Hubble was used 
to discover four small moons orbiting Pluto and its binary companion object 
Charon, providing new targets to enhance the mission's scientific return. 
And Hubble has provided the most sensitive search yet for potentially 
hazardous dust rings around the Pluto. Hubble also has made a detailed map of 
the dwarf planet's surface, which astronomers are using to plan New Horizon's 
close-up reconnaissance photos.

In addition to Pluto exploration, recent Hubble solar system observations 
have discovered a new satellite around Neptune, probed the magnetospheres of 
the gas-giant planets, found circumstantial evidence for oceans on Europa, 
and uncovered several bizarre cases of asteroids disintegrating before our 
eyes. Hubble has supported numerous NASA Mars missions by monitoring the Red 
Planet's seasonal atmospheric changes. Hubble has made complementary 
observations in support of the Dawn asteroid mission, and comet flybys. In 
July 1994, Hubble documented the never-before-seen string of comet collisions 
with Jupiter that resulted from the tidal breakup of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.

"The planned search for a suitable target for New Horizons further 
demonstrates how Hubble is effectively being used to support humankind's 
initial reconnaissance of the solar system," said Mountain. "Likewise, it is 
also a preview of how the powerful capabilities of the upcoming James Webb 
Space Telescope will further bolster planetary science. We are excited by the 
potential of both observatories for ongoing solar system exploration and 
discovery."

For images and more information about Hubble, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

and

http://hubblesite.org/news/2014/29 

-end-


J.D. Harrington
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-5241
j.d.harrington at nasa.gov 

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore
410-338-4514
villard at stsci.edu