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IOTA: Asteroid Occultations to March 2005
I received the following notice from David Dunham of IOTA, and want to
pass it along. Edward P. Flaspoehler, Jr., President American Association of Amateur Astronomers www.astromax.com On February 7, there are only occultations of two 11th-mag. stars by relatively small asteroids in n. South America, n. Central America,s. Mexico, and far eastern Canada. Tomorrow evening, February 8, an occultation of an 11.8-mag. star by the asteroid Menippe will be visible across the USA from Virginia to northern California, but clouds are also expected to be almost coast-to-coast across the path; e. Virginia apparently has the best chance. Updated information about these and other asteroidal occultations visible from North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and other areas through March 4th are summarized according to calculations by Steve Preston (comprehensive here only for North America; occultations of brighter stars given for other areas) and Jan Manek and Jean Schwaenen (for Europe) in the tables for asteroidal occultations below. Predictions for more events this month will be distributed soon. Updated path maps, finder charts, and other detailed information about these events can be found at the Web sites at the end of this message; Steve Preston's Web site also has path updates for South America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and often other areas, while Jan Manek's site covers Europe and southern Africa (but some European events are instead on Preston's site, especially trans-Atlantic events, and many others are on the EAON site by Schwaenen); you should consult them since I mainly list the better foreign and North American events here. Under "Approx. location", places are spelled out when they can be, but usually it is necessary to use the standard two-letter postal abbreviations for the States of the USA and provinces of Canada (for example, AB = Alberta, NB = New Brunswick, NE = Nebraska) or the two-letter country abbreviations used in Web and e-mail addresses (FR = France, DE = Germany, NZ = New Zealand, etc.). A complete list of these codes is at http://www.nwhealth.edu/it/employs/abbrev.html . "cen." or "c" means central, and small letters, with or without ".", indicate the part of the State, Province, or country, such as sCA = southern California, nON = northern Ontario, sTX = southern Texas, etc. Rarely, 3-letter airport abbreviations are used, and I use "Sib" for Siberia, NN for New England, and CS for the Canary Islands (rather than just "ES" to distinguish them from mainland Spain; can't use CI because that's Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). Often, not every place crossed by a path is mentioned, so if you are between two listed states or countries, the event may occur in your location; also, due to remaining path errors, if you are in adjacent areas, you should also watch since the actual path might occur at your location. Unless otherwise specified in the notes, the magnitude drop in case of an occultation is 1.0 or more. Those especially in the Americas are reminded that the dates and times below are U.T., and that local dates may be a day earlier. NOTE that the times are U.T.; especially in the Americas, events often occur the evening of the PREVIOUSLY-LISTED date, local time. 2005 Asteroid S t a r Date U.T. Diam., R.A.(2000)Dec. Feb. h m m # Name km mag. h m o / Approx. location 7 4:37-:49 181 Eucharis 107 11.6 06 46.0 +09 06 e.Brazil,eNS,eQC,NF 7 8:03-:09 1308 Halleria 43 11.3 09 30.9 +19 57 nBR,VE,NI,HN,GT,sMX 8 2:08-:12 188 Menippe 39 11.8 07 31.8 +07 26 sVA,KY,MO,nCO,nUT,nCA 8 15:41-:45 489 Comacina 139 9.5 04 08.2 +06 08 sLK,nTH,seCN,HK,TW 8 20:25-:27 54 Alexandra 166 9.1 16 41.8 -33 06 Sumatra,Java,AU-WA,NT 8 21:09-:12 157 Dejanira 19 11.2 12 19.3 +19 24 RO,HU,AT,nCH,sDE?,nFR 8 21:39-:44 2829 Bobhope 38 10.8 06 40.4 +33 51 nRU,sFI,sSE,nUK,IE 8 23:08-:17 1936 Lugano 25 10.4 08 10.3 +07 29 KZ,RU,UA,PL,nDE,UK,IE 9 3:20-:21 536 Merapi 151 11.8 01 19.7 +00 00 nCA,sID,nWY,SD,ND,nMN 9 5:42-:43 144 Vibilia 141 11.1 17 45.8 -22 58 IE,UK,nFR,BE,swDE,CH 9 7:05-:08 709 Fringilla 96 10.9 05 43.8 +37 47 nSask.,AB-EDM,sBC,wWA 9 7:52-:54 1356 Nyanza 65 9.6 14 43.4 -09 08 cen.Chile,cen.Argent. 9 16:15-:27 1815 Beethoven 30 8.3 08 41.2 +19 55 JP,KR,CN,KZ,RU,sUA,RO 10 5:55-:57 71 Niobe 83 8.0 03 23.9 +41 20 wON,MN,IA,MO,AR,MS,LA 10 7:57-:58 215 Oenone 36 9.5 17 49.8 -24 27 nChile,nArg.,Uruguay 10 13:47-:47 460 Scania 22 8.4 08 43.7 +11 16 s.w.Western Australia 10 21:34-:35 944 Hidalgo 23 12.0 01 16.1 +53 22 UK,nFR,sDE,CH,Italy 11 1:10-:28 542 Susanna 42 9.8 06 29.0 +12 09 BR,VE,CU,LA,eTX,OK,CO 11 7:10-:10 288 Glauke 32 10.6 14 59.7 -11 46 JAX?,sGA,AL,MS,AR,sOK 11 10:51-:66 377 Campania 91 9.4 06 24.6 +13 53 NZ-SI;AU-e&nQueensld. 12 0:19-:22 774 Armor 50 11.8 05 54.5 +19 52 sSC,sGeorgia,sAlabama 12 3:19-:26 1841 Masaryk 46 11.2 07 20.1 +25 37 NC,KY,MO,OK,NM,AZ,sCA 12 4:01-:05 2357 Phereclos 95 9.5 08 37.8 +15 59 cen.Brazil,nPeru,sEC 12 13:54-:62 11771 Maestlin 5 3.0 07 34.6 +31 53 Okinawa,sCN,MM,sIndia 12 14:00-:14 11771 Maestlin 5 1.9 07 34.6 +31 53 Sib,KZ,UZ,IQ,JO,IL,EG 13 3:19-:20 436 Patricia 59 10.9 14 55.5 -30 42 wPL,CZ,SK,HU,YU,GR,EG 13 6:40-:45 1582 Martir 37 11.4 10 44.8 +23 31 GA,TN,MO,NE,SD,WA,sBC 13 11:53-:56 1182 Ilona 14 8.5 08 14.9 +27 06 AU-sQld.,ne&sc S.A. 13 17:16-:41 1388 Aphrodite 25 8.3 05 24.0 +32 38 NL,DE,CZ,AT,HU,YU,GR 13 17:36-:39 6129Demokritos 15 9.9 03 24.4 +23 21 DE,CZ,sPL,SK?,UA,sRU 14 2:06-:09 592 Bathseba 46 10.5 05 39.5 +11 21 eOR,eWash.,seBC,wAB 14 11:42-:45 69 Hesperia 138 10.9 10 13.6 +02 35 KY,IL,nMO,IA,SD,SK,AB 14 17:02-:06 796 Sarita 45 11.8 04 23.3 +42 49 sFR,IT,GR,TR,CY,LB,JO 14 18:45-:45 135 Hertha 79 11.7 01 58.5 +14 14 nES,FR,IT,HR,YU,RO,RU 15 6:02-:03 49 Pales 150 11.6 03 06.6 +19 22 OR,ID,nUT,CO,KS,OK,AR 15 9:29-:30 12713 1991 FY3 13 5.8 02 15.8 +25 47 AU-s.Queensland 16 2:17-:17 411 Xanthe 76 10.7 00 19.9 -10 56 sCA,nAZ,nNM,seCO,KS 17 0:49-:54 2813 Zappala 32 10.8 07 56.9 -01 29 Libya,nAlgeria,Spain 17 3:52-:65 3824 Brendalee 8 5.9 10 56.0 +06 11 CS,sNN,NY,MI,WI,MN,OR 17 3:54-:63 63 Ausonia 103 11.8 06 16.4 +29 05 AB-EDM,eBC,eWA,OR,nCA 17 13:31-:33 1191 Alfaterna 42 8.0 11 56.2 +15 44 wAK-Alaska Pen.,Nome 17 16:05-:07 7 Iris 200 9.6 16 47.4 -24 42 AU-WA,sSA,Vic;NZStwtI 17 17:13-:14 81Terpsichore 119 11.0 02 31.7 +22 14 SK,UA,sRU,KZ,TJ,wCN 18 1:56-:66 13689 Succi 8 5.9 05 30.4 +15 22 cMX,TX,OK,KS,MO,IA,WI 18 10:51-:61 513 Centesima 50 9.6 09 04.7 +06 19 sMX,Baja,swAK,neSib. 18 19:36-:48 688 Melanie 41 8.8 11 06.8 +02 52 PI,CN,wRU,EE,FI,SE,NO 19 11:53-:54 371 Bohemia 55 11.1 15 09.9 -26 10 sMB,eND,MN,eIowa,IL 20 4:42-:43 611 Valeria 57 10.8 03 38.2 +06 27 sBaja,nMX,sTX,sFL-MIA 20 10:47-:49 1345 Potomac 72 11.7 16 46.4 -11 13 sBaja,nMX,sFL-MIA,BS 20 23:10-:17 1571 Cesco 34 10.8 07 37.5 +17 00 KZ,RU,BY,LT,nDE,UK,IE 21 9:17-:17 207 Hedda 59 8.0 09 07.3 +22 52 Okinawa,Taiwan(Sun-6) 21 15:06-:20 358 Apollonia 89 8.7 08 44.6 +14 53 Luzon,sCN,UZ,AM,neTR 21 18:39-:43 550 Senta 37 11.8 04 19.6 +22 13 nUK,DK,nPL,BY,nUA,sRU 21 18:53-:54 136 Austria 40 11.9 08 49.1 +06 15 Tunisia,neDZ,s.Spain 21 22:22-:24 336 Lacadiera 69 11.5 04 24.7 +17 52 nUK,DK,nPL,BY,nUA,sRU 22 0:10-:14 192 Nausikaa 103 10.9 05 53.1 +30 42 n.Quebec,w&sNewfndlnd 22 6:06-:07 150 Nuwa 151 11.5 03 13.2 +16 24 sBC,sAB,nMT,ND,MN-low 22 7:17-:29 367 Amicitia 19 10.5 11 30.8 +09 11 PR?,FL,AR,OK,CO,ID,OR 23 1:14-:16 596 Scheila 113 11.8 04 05.3 +23 38 seTX,LA,MS,AL,sGA,sSC 23 1:31-:32 773 Irmintraud 96 11.0 00 41.8 +18 20 cen.Mexico, Yucatan 23 3:17-:32 804 Hispania 158 11.4 07 20.0 +37 21 wUA,swBY,nePL,sSE,DK, nNO,sIS,nQC,wON,MN,seSD,cNE,nwKS,seCO,NM,seAZ,nwMX ,sBaja 23 3:54-:55 909 Ulla 116 10.8 06 16.6 +09 13 nAKpanhandle,swYK,eAK 23 8:43-:43 238 Hypatia 148 10.9 05 41.1 +08 31 CA-SFO,sNV,sUT,sCOlow 24 11:11-:12 266 Aline 109 10.7 18 49.5 -17 03 sAZlow,sNM,TX,sLA,nFL 24 11:43-:45 409 Aspasia 162 11.7 16 04.2 -25 46 s.Baja?,s.Mexico 24 14:55-:71 391 Ingeborg 32 9.2 07 16.2 -10 53 sNZ,AU,cen.China,cSib 24 23:08-:15 359 Georgia 44 11.5 07 59.3 +28 40 RU,UA,PL,nDE,NL,UK,IE 25 2:42-:52 112 Iphigenia 72 10.3 09 51.9 +12 30 CS,sNN,NY,ON,WI,MN,OR 27 7:36-:39 1575 Winifred 11 5.5 15 32.6 -19 40 EC,sCO,nwBR,sVE,GY,GF 27 14:42-:52 2752 WuCh'nShg 17 5.0 13 41.6 -08 42 w.Hawaii,neSiberia 28 1:30-:44 52 Europa 302 7.8 08 47.4 +19 55 nBR,VE,CO,NI,HR,GT,MX 28 5:05-:06 120 Lachesis 174 11.9 17 41.5 -30 02 Spain,nDZ,Tunisia 28 19:18-:35 1970 Sumeria 22 8.6 11 46.1 -06 38 sJP,CN,nIR,TR,GR,sIT 28 19:54-:59 7082 La Serena 13 6.6 07 33.4 +15 38 TR,BG,RO,wUA,PL,SE,NO 28 22:42-:45 1236 Thais 22 10.4 11 27.8 +23 02 UA,PL,nGermany,UK,nIE March 3 1:09-:27 433 Eros 15 10.3 13 28.7 -40 51 eJO,wSA,SD,ZW,SAfrica 4 5:51-:53 52 Europa 302 10.9 08 45.5 +20 11 NS,NB,PEI,neMaine,QC 4 12:34-:34 409 Aspasia 162 9.4 16 13.0 -25 55 s. Hawaii Island? 4 18:27-:67 917 Lyka 28 9.5 07 32.7 +25 51 HK,sCN,MM,India,KE,NA Notes for Individual Events: Feb. 8, Menippe: Clear Sky Clock shows that it should be mostly clear in s.e. Virginia, but poorer conditions almost everywhere west of there, with mostly cloudy to overcast west of Virginia (but there should be a reasonably good break in the clouds in s.e. Nebr., and possibly near Salt Lake City, and it should be mostly clear, with poor transparency, in northern Calif.). I would like to set up two telescopes, one near each limit of the occultation, north and south of Richmond, VA, but thin clouds moving in from the west will probably make it too risky to try that, and I won't have time to drive to Cape Charles at the s. end of the Delmarva Peninsula, since I have a meeting late in the afternoon at my work place north of DC. I'll probably be prepared to make the effort (telescopes, etc. packed and ready to go when I go to my office) and decide based on the visual satellite loop and latest forecast in the mid-afternoon tomorrow. Feb. 8, Comacina: The star is SAO 111620, spectral type K0. Feb. 8, Alexandra: The star is SAO 207931, spectral type G0. Feb. 9, Nyanza: The star is SAO 140093, spectral type G5. Feb. 9, Beethoven: The star is SAO 80353, sp. A3, in Preasepe. Feb. 10, Niobe: The star is SAO 38784 = HIP 15831, spectral type B8. This is the best asteroidal occ'n in North America this month, worth a major effort if the weather cooperates. The path passes over Des Moines, IA; Columbia, MO; Little Rock, AR; and New Orleans, LA, a few path-widths west of Edwin Goffin's nominal path. Accuweather's medium- range forecast is poor for most of the path except Arkansas, where only scattered cirrus is forecast. If that doesn't change (it certainly can), I urge observes across Arkansas and in neighboring States to be ready to try to observe this good event (target star is near 6th-mag. SAO 38809 about 3 deg. east of Algol); I'm considering travelling to Little Rock to attempt the event myself. Feb. 10, Oenone: The star is SAO 185809, spectral type A0. Feb. 10, Scania: The star is SAO 98074 = HIP 42839, spec. type A3. Feb. 10, Hidalgo: This asteroid is in a comet-like orbit with aphelion near Saturn, so it could be an interesting object. Feb. 11, Glauke: The asteroid has an unusually long rotation period. Feb. 11, Campania: The asteroid is an unusual type PD (dark, outer belt) object. The star is SAO 95636, spectral type F2. Feb. 12, Masaryk: Accuweather's long-range forecast is very good for the Norfolk, VA region, and also good for the Mojave Desert in Calif., so maybe we can get several observations of this relatively good coast- to-coast event at the start of next weekend. I haven't checked other forecasts except note that it's poor for Missouri, but this far in advance, the forecasts are usually not very accurate. Feb. 12, Phereclos: This is a Trojan (actually, Greek?) asteroid. Feb. 12, Maestlin: The star is Castor (alpha Geminorum = HIP 36850). The second line is for Castor A; the path west of the Caspian Sea is in daylight but predictions for the path are not given for that area, although the star is bright enough to observe in the daytime. The first line is for Castor B, about 5" from Castor A; both stars are in turn close doubles. Feb. 13, Ilona: The star is SAO 80037 = HIP 40401, spec. type K0. Feb. 13, Aphrodite: The star is SAO 57976 = HIP 25252 = COU 1090, spec. B9, a close double, with a 9.3-mag. companion 0.2" away in PA 235 deg. Since it is unlikely that observers will be able to resolve the pair, when the primary star disappears, there will be a 1.0-mag. drop, rather than the 6-mag. drop given in J. Schwaenen's prediction. I suppose that the primary star's position has been used for the prediction, but that should be checked; the pair's orbital motion might cause a change in the path. Feb. 13, Demokritos: The star is SAO 75914, spec. type F0. It has a 12.8-mag. companion 11" away in PA 43 deg. Feb. 14, Hesperia: The mag. drop is 0.6, hard for visual observation. Feb. 15, Pales: Caution, the star is a UCAC2 star; the actual magnitude might be fainter and hard to see with 8-in. telescopes. Feb. 15, 1991 FY3: The star is 20 Ari = SAO 75239 = HIP 10540, sp. F2. Feb. 17, Brendalee: The star is 56 Leonis = VY Leonis = ZC 1589 = SAO 118576 = HIP 53449, spec. type M5.5III. The variable range is only 5.69-6.03 (V). Gradual events due to the star's angular size may occur. The path also passes over s. ON, SD, sMT, & cID. Don't travel for this event since the path location is so uncertain relative to the size of the asteroid. Feb. 17, Alfaterna: The star is SAO 99874 = HIP 58203, spec. type M2. Feb. 17, Iris: The star is SAO 184636 = HIP 82176, spectral type G0. Feb. 18, Succi: The star is SAO 94596 = HIP 25790, spectral type A2. The path also passes over w.ON. Cities near the predicted path include Monterrey, San Antonio, Ft. Worth, Tulsa, and Kansas City, but the actual path could pass 200 km farther east or west. Feb. 18, Centesima: The star is SAO 117397, spectral type K0. Feb. 18, Melanie: The star is SAO 118665 = HIP 54326, spec. type A2. Feb. 21, Hedda: The star is SAO 80639, spectral type K0. Feb. 21, Apollonia: The star is SAO 98088, spectral type F5. Feb. 21, Lacadiera & Feb. 22, Nuwa: Caution, UCAC2 star, see note for Feb. 15, Pales. Feb. 24, Ingeborg: The star is SAO 152637, spectral type K0. Feb. 25, Iphigenia: Since the path for this rather good event passes over Toronto, Guy Nason, , is trying to coordinate coverage of the event, and plans to prepare some maps for Web posting. Feb. 27, Winifred: This naked-eye (well, easy binoculars) event might be visible from ESA's launch complex on the French Guyana coast, but it's brief, only 0.7 second long. The star is ZC 2217 = SAO 159330 = HIP 76106, spectral type A2IV. Feb. 27, Wu Chien-Shiung: The star is 82 Virginis = ZC 1962 = SAO 139490 = HIP 66803, spectral type M2III. Gradual events due to the star's angular diameter are possible. The path passes well west of the main Hawaiian Islands, but might pass over some of the small ones, and possibly over the westernmost islands of the Aleutian chain, too. Feb. 28, Europa: This occultation of a bright star by one of the largest main-belt asteroids is certainly the best of February worldwide; I hope observers across northern S. America and northern Central America can observe this very good event. The star is SAO 80426, spec. type K0. Feb. 28, Sumeria: The star is SAO 138393 = HIP 57405, spec. type G5. Feb. 28, La Serena: The star is ZC 1145 = SAO 97012 = HIP 36739, spectral type K0. March 3: Although Eros is small, its orbit is known very accurately from tracking of the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft, so those within Preston's updated path have a very good chance to see the 3sec occ'n. March 4, Europa: The mag. drop is 0.7, which careful visual observation should be able to detect unless the seeing is poor. March 4, Aspasia: The star is SAO 184230, spectral type K5. March 4, Lyka: The star is SAO 79484, spectral type K2. ______ For more about these events, see Steve Preston's site at http://www.asteroidoccultation.com for updated path maps, finder charts of different scales, and other details. Also, see the asteroidal occultation section of the main IOTA site at http://www.lunar-occultations.com/io...ds/astrndx.htm for annotated versions of E. Goffin's good finder charts for North American events and links to sites covering other areas. For Europe, see also L. Vasta & J. Manek's site at http://mpocc.astro.cz/mp and J. Schwaenen's site at http://www.astrosurf.com/eaon (go to his MONTHLY links, for February, the latter being directly http://astrosurf.com/eaon/Occultations%20Fev.htm . New observers can get basic information on timing occultations at http://iota.jhu/timng920.htm and at http:/astrosurf.com/eaon/video%20observations.htm . I just list the events in the table above; see the Web sites for the updated maps to see the closest approach time for your location, and more accurate coordinates of the star and its designation. You must display this message with a fixed-space font such as Courier for the columns of the table to line up. The U.T. time range is given, with only the minutes of the hour given for the end time (subtract 60 and add 1 to the hour for end minutes greater than 59). Good luck with YOUR observations of occultations. David Dunham, 2005 Feb. 7, 7h UT |
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