2022 January 20
ALERT: Long-duration asteroid occultation – 2022 January 21 20h
A stellar occultation by the ~140km asteroid (212) Medea will be visible from central mainland UK around 20:14-20:19 UT tomorrow evening (Friday). The combined magnitude of the star and asteroid will be 11.9V and the drop in brightness will be almost a factor of 3 (1.1 mag). The asteroid will be unusually slow moving (0.10 “/min) as it approaches a retrograde point in its apparent track across the sky and so the maximum duration of this event will be close to 60 sec.
Observers with medium to large telescopes equipped with an electronic camera are encouraged to monitor the event.
Recent correspondence and details on observing can be found on the BAA Forum with discussions by Alex Pratt, Tim Haymes and Denis Buczynski.
Richard Miles
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