Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Nick,
Ahh yes,I see. BTW: The author has now extend the event list to include 14th mag stars. I observed one the other night. Not many nights pass when there isnt an opportunity to observe a prediction. We also have predictions for Comet Nuclei
(not in this list though).Tim
Hi David
Lunar occultation times are sent to the IOTA European Collector with a copy to the Lunar Section. The collected and checked observations are made available to researchers in a database that can be read with free software (Occult4). Some of it is on VizieR. http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/VizieR
Asteroid Occultation observations ( sub-section of ARPS ) are collected in a similar way by IOTA (International Occultation Timing Association). Observations are used to create asteroid profiles or accurate astrometry which is published yearly by researchers. Timings are on the EURASTER.NET webpage.
The BAA Sections involved in occultation timing act as a conduit between amateur and professional. By the same means research groups can request observations from the observing Sections.
Occultation observations are also published in the BAAJ, Lunar Section Circular, and the observing section webpages.
Best wishes, Tim
(Occultation coordinator for Lunar Section, and the Asteroid and Remote Planets Section)Asteroid and Remote Planets: https://www.britastro.org/section_front/8
Lunar: https://www.britastro.org/section_front/16
Asteroid results: http://www.euraster.net/Any home brew project is susceptible to misunderstandings in how the time stamp is applied, and you need specialised timing equipment to unravel what is going on at frame and field level. For this reason i would not necessarily go down a DIY route. I would buy a VTI that is fully characterised. There are many, but the two in common use by occultation observers is the GPSBOXSPRITE2 by Blackboxcamera (london) and the IOTA VTI V3 by Videotimers (US). Both these derive the time from GPS and produce time stamps at field level. Ideal for our proposes.
I recently used a WAT-910 HX and recorded a Gemind lunar impact (30cm F/4). It had already been picked up by a 1 m scope but I was able to find the exact frame to 0.02s, and it was there (just). A good example of the importance of coordinated time.
Nick said that frame buffering can effect timeing. It does and a full description for various cameras in general use is published by G Dangl http://www.dangl.at/ausruest/vid_tim/vid_tim1.htm
The project described at ESOP36 (thank Alex) probably has been tested now, and verified, and similar components should work in the same way ( i guess) – best of luck with the project, and please report any occultations you time to the Lunar Section. They are very useful
There is a chart format here: https://moonphases.co.uk/moon-calendar. Don’t know if its printable. There may be other options in a deeper internet search. Good luck with your observations.
Jeremy, I havent read any reports of an occultation being observed. I was in the predicted path and It was cloudy here. I know of several observatories who tried – but with the same outcome.
Tim
Looks like Richard (Chester) was closest to the track – inside by 1 km, while Alex and Stuart were North and South respectively by about 1 path width. I have observations from Great Yarmouth area where there was a small possibility (S Hubbard, A Robertson). Both report no occultation. Lars (Denmark) you were about 2 path widths North of the predicted track. I have one other video observation from Derek Robson and your data is being looked at.
Alex and I will be at ESOP36 in Germany 5 days over this weekend so there may be a lull in feedback – Thanks to all contributors and to Alex for the alert for this event.
There was a typographical error in my message. Those planning to monitor the (56) Malete event, please note this is predicted for Sunday September 24th at arround 0305 UT (not the 27th) – Tim.
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2017_09/0924_56_51606.htm
Alex suggests my web pages in his note https://britastro.org/node/11043#overlay-context=node/11043
These pages were written some time ago, but still offer some ideas to follow up like “Drift Scan”. I did some experiments with this (Detailed How To section 17) using a 300mm lens and a simulated occultation. I suggest this might be a usable method to record it with a DSLR and an un-driven optic. I hope someone will see the occultation and time the start and duration of the event. I wont be observing this (too far away) but I look forward to receiving any results (negative or positive) by whatever means is available – best of luck and my regards to the Chester group.Hi, I dont keep regular stats but the best month was November in terms of clear nights. Imaging took place on 11 clear evenings, and a number of Lunar occs were timed in Jan, Feb, Mar and Nov. My tally for asteroid occultation observations over the year indicates a success rate of 8%. I have also monitored more low probability events (small objects) this year than in past years. All timings were reported to IOTA
In all 46 Negative (no occultation) and 4 very nice Positives asteroid events have been recorded. So a good year for me.
Tim H (nr Reading, UK)The 12 observations from UK are on EURASTER.NET. What a great night and great result for UK observers ! The profile of the asteroid can be seen on the link to chords for Sapientia. Peter Carson’s observation is chord 15.
My video is also on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0lpfz_S5Js
The asteroid is just visible with the star occulted. [OO 30cm F/4, WAT-910HX, 0.08sec, GPSBOXSPRITE2]
Tim
