[AZ-Observing] Dec 3 asteroid occultation
- From: "Randy Peterson" <rgpeterson@xxxxxxx>
- To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2005 21:49:35 -0700
An asteroid occultation is when an asteroid passes between us and a star, and
the light from the star is temporarily blocked. They typically occur in the
wee hours with semi-dim stars, but there is a good one coming up that is early
on a Saturday morning. If you are interested, the rest of this email gives
more details. If not, please delete.
> One of the best asteroidal occultations of 2005 will occur at
> 13:07 UT (6:07 am MST) Saturday morning,
> Dec. 3, when the very large asteroid (52) Europa will occult 8.9-mag.
> 139639 in Virgo visible from a wide path
> that includes most of southern and central California (north end of San
> Francisco Bay to Los Angeles), southern
> Nevada, Arizona, southern & central New Mexico, and western & central
> Texas.
If you want an excellent chance to chalk-up an
occultation event from the metro Phoenix area, this is the one to try for.
Details at:
http://digitalmagic.i8.com/Astronomy/Occultations/051203_Europa.html
and
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2005_12/1203_52_3769.htm
The good: The star is magnitude 8.9. The asteroid is large, at
302 km. The altitude from metro Phoenix is OK at 27 d, Az 118. The duration
potential is over 7 seconds,
magnitude drop is over 3. Time is 6:07 am MST on a Saturday morning. We
are well within the primary path in all of metro Phoenix. There are two
more 8th magnitude stars in the field of view to form a triangle to help
identify the target star (you'll need to know how your optics flip the fov
obviously).
The not-so-good: Sunrise will be progressing, but I don't
think that will affect the event, as sunrise is 7:12 MST. "Astronomical"
darkness ends at 5:48, but it will still be astronomical twilight until
6:18.
Randy Peterson
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