Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Next bright star occultation coming up for india (path going through Maharahstra, andhra pradesh)

On 2009 Dec 24 UT, the 58 km diameter asteroid (224) Oceana will occult a 6.6 mag star in the constellation Auriga for observers along a path across India, Arabia, Africa.

In the case of an occultation, the combined light of the asteroid and the star will drop by 5.9 mag to 12.5 mag (the magnitude of the asteroid) for at most 4.7 seconds.




For interactive google map click here courtesy BREIT IDEAS Observatory

This update is based on UNSO/Flagstaff astrometry for the asteroid kindly provided by Alice Monet, TMO astrometry for the asteroid kindly provided by Bill Owen, historical astrometry from the MPC files (via AstDys), and the following catalogs for the star position: .

The event at a glimpse
----------------------
    * Rank: 98
    * date and approx. time of event: 2009 Dec 24, 21:23  - 2009 Dec 24, 21:40  UT
    * magnitude of target star: 6.6
    * magnitude drop [mag]: 5.9
    * estimated maximum duration [s]: 4.7
    * Moon: 52 % sunlit, 78° distance
    * Sun: 167° distance
    * rough path description: India, Arabia, Africa

The occultation path
--------------------
    * approximate projected width [km]: 59
    * 1 sigma uncertainty interval [path widths]: +/- 0.37
    * 1 sigma uncertainty interval [seconds]: +/- 2.4
    * 1 sigma uncertainty interval approx RA,DE ["]: (+/- .027 +/- .017)
    * 1 sigma uncertainty ellipse (major, minor, PA): ( .027", .017", 88° )
    * approx speed of asteroid's shadow [km/s]: 12.4406


Prediction courtesy -
Calculator (s): Steve Preston
Date of update: 2009 Nov 14, 21:37 UT

www.asteroidoccultation.com

Steve Preston
7640 NE 32nd St
Medina, WA 98039
425-688-9965

mailto: stevepr@acm.org

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