occultation of 7.2 mag star by 22 km asteroid

On 2009 Dec 27 UT, the 22 km diameter asteroid (889) Erynia will occult a 7.2 mag star in the constellation Virgo for observers along a path across India, Arabia.

In the case of an occultation, the combined light of the asteroid and the star will drop by 8.7 mag to 15.9 mag (the magnitude of the asteroid) for at most 1.8 seconds.

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

The event at a glimpse
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    * Rank: 61
    * date and approx. time of event: 2009 Dec 27, 22:49  - 2009 Dec 27, 22:59  UT
    * magnitude of target star: 7.2
    * magnitude drop [mag]: 8.7
    * estimated maximum duration [s]: 1.8
    * Moon: 81 % sunlit, 134° distance
    * Sun: 97° distance
    * rough path description: India, Arabia

Click here to go to google earth to see the path