Predictions of stellar occultations by asteroids are becoming more accurate and more frequent as time goes on.  This month we have the unusual occurence of TWO occultations potentially visible from the UK on the SAME EVENING, Friday March 07.

The formal track of both shadows cross Devon but given the large positional uncertainties it means that most folk in England and Wales will have a small chance (5-10%) of seeing a positive event.

The details are:

At 20:54 UT, asteroid 18996 (2000 RR53) occults star TYC 0148 0778 (V=10.8) in Monoceros for a max duration of about 4 seconds.  The asteroid is about 21 km across.  Observers please observe the star at least between 20:51 and 20:57 UT (Position RA 06h51m12s, Dec +00d51'34").
More information and a map showing the track is available (courtesy of the European Asteroid Occultation Network) at:

http://astrosurf.com/eaon/Cartes/03%20March/07_2000%20RR53.htm

At 23:01 UT, asteroid 3273 Drukar occults star TYC 1808 0404 (V=10.9) in Taurus for a max duration of about 2 seconds.  The asteroid is about 33 km across.  Observers in Ireland and France may also witness a positive event. Please observe the star at least between 22:59 and 23:03 UT (Position RA 03h51m29s, Dec +27d27'48").
More information and a map showing the track is available (courtesy of the European Asteroid Occultation Network) at:

http://astrosurf.com/eaon/Cartes/03%20March/07_drukar.htm

Both events take place with the stars at reasonable altitudes as seen from the UK, and the weather forecast shows that we may very well have clear skies (i.e. a gap between fronts approaching from the west).

Richard Miles
Asteroids and Remote Planets Section