Observers in those and adjacent areas, such as Japan, eastern Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, are encouraged to record the star with CCD, video, or photometric equipment for a few hours around the time of closest approach; such records can be analyzed later to find evidence of any fadings of the star's light that might be due to Plutonian rings; these would be of great interest to scientists involved with the New Horizons mission to Pluto. Walker Vanning, San Rafael, California, claims that observations of past occultations show that Pluto has an extensive ring system that could cause fadings of SAO 160793's light even more than 12h from the time of closest approach, so he encourages observers worldwide to monitor the star while it is high enough above the local horizon; he thinks that very distant rings may exist that could pass over the star even 3 days from the Pluto closest approach time. The star, also known as B.D. -16 deg. 4607, P507, and UCAC2 25587116, is at J2000 position is R.A. 17h 44m 38.4s, Dec. -16 deg. 46' 35" its spectral type is K5.

This event was mentioned in a Sky and Telescope Astroalert at

and information about it is also given at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Web site at

David Dunham
2007 September 24