Observation by Tim Haymes: Asteroid occultation of a v13.6 star
Uploaded by
Tim Haymes
Observer
Tim Haymes
Observed
2021 Aug 23 - 20:52
Uploaded
2021 Aug 26 - 15:05
Objects
1434 Margot
Equipment
- C11 XLT at F5.6
- QHY174-gps
- SharpCap v 3.2.6482
- TANGRA for light curve measurement
Exposure
200ms, 3 minute SER recording
Location
Oxfordshire, UK
Target name
(1434) Margot and UCAC4 378-145495
Title
Asteroid occultation of a v13.6 star
About this image
Perhaps not the most exciting report, but typical of a faint star occultation in good conditions. Here, the star (blue light curve) disappears for 3.7 seconds occulted by the fainter asteroid (v15). The star field in Sag. was just clear of the dome wall.
Of interest is that the light curve does not go down to zero(background). The reason for this is a fainter star about 10" arc from the occulted star is contributing to the measurement aperture. It was a very good prediction for two reasons: The observed mid-time was within 1 seconds of the predicted time, and the chord length agrees with my location.
Where did i get the prediction? Well i now use OccultWatcher V5. This takes the predictions from a Cloud server (access is build into the application). The server calculates several predictions which can viewed in Google Maps. OccultWatcher is configured by me to show predictions crossing Oxfordshire where i observe them. I happened to be near the middle of this shadow, and i still count myself lucky to have recorded it, as so much can go wrong - wrong star, uncertain prediction, bad weather, technical issues etc.. This is my 48th confirmed positive occultation since 2010.
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Jeremy Shears,
Graham Winstanley,
David Basey,
Peter Mulligan,
Alan Thomas,
Grant Privett,
Andy Wilson,
Dr Paul Leyland,
Mr Nicholas John Atkinson,
Ron Arbour,
stan armstrong
Comments
I should add, that the observed chord length and mid time is not unique. The same would be observed the other side of the mid line. A second observation could have removed this ambiguity.
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