MegaPipe astrometry for the New Horizons spacecraft

The New Horizons spacecraft, launched by NASA in 2006, will arrive in the Pluto-Charon system on July 14, 2015. There, it will spend a few hours imaging Pluto and its moons. It will then have a small amount of reserve propellant which will be used to direct the probe on to a second, yet to be discovered object in the Kuiper Belt. Data from the MegaPrime camera on CFHT was used to build a precise, high density astrometric reference frame for both the final approach into the Pluto system and the search for the secondary target. Pluto currently lies in the galactic plane. This is a hindrance in that there are potential problems with confusion. However, it is also a benefit, since it allows the use of the UCAC4 astrometric reference catalog, which is normally too sparse for use with MegaCam images. The astrometric accuracy of the final catalogs, as measured by the residuals, is 0.02 arcseconds.

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