Pluto's atmospheric profiles (temperature and pressure) have been studied for decades from stellar occultation lightcurves. In this paper, we look at recent Pluto Global Climate Model (GCM) results (3D temperature, pressure, and density fields) from Bertrand et al. (2020) and use the results to generate model observer's plane intensity fields (OPIF) and lightcurves by using a Fourier optics scheme to model light passing through Pluto's atmosphere (Young, 2012). This approach can accommodate arbitrary atmospheric structures and 3D distributions of haze. We compared the GCM model lightcurves with the lightcurves observed during the 15-AUG-2018 Pluto stellar occultation. We find that the climate scenario which best reproduces the observed data includes an N2 ice mid-latitude band in the southern hemisphere. We have also studied different haze and P/T ratio profiles: the haze effectively reduces the central flash strength, and a lower P/T ratio both reduces the central flash strength and incurs anomalies in the shoulders of the central flash.
Physical Characterization of Asteroid (16583) Oersted Combining Stellar Occultation and Photometric Data
Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Institute of Astronomy（查理大学数学物理学院天体物理研究所）；Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS-Lagrange, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur（蔚蓝海岸大学法国国家科学研究中心拉格朗日实验室蔚蓝海岸天文台）；School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester（莱斯特大学物理与天文学院）；Department of Physics, The Catholic University of America（美国天主教大学物理系）；Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center（NASA戈达德太空飞行中心天体物理学科学部）；Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology, NASA/GSFC（NASA/戈达德太空飞行中心空间科学与技术研究探索中心）；SETI Institute, Carl Sagan Center（SETI研究所卡尔·萨根中心）；Unistellar
Reconciling results of 2019 and 2020 stellar occultations on Pluto's atmosphere. New constraints from both the 5 September 2019 event and consistency analysis
A Further Investigation of Apparent Periodicities and the Rotational State of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 from Combined Coma Morphology and Lightcurve Datasets
Changes in Pluto's Atmosphere Based on Stellar Occultation Data from 2017 to 2023
Planetary Science Institute（行星科学研究所）；Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；Lowell Observatory（洛厄尔天文台）；Universität Stuttgart（斯图加特大学）；SOFIA Science Center NASA Ames Research Center（NASA艾姆斯研究中心索菲亚科学中心）；Las Cumbres Observatory（拉斯孔布雷斯天文台）
