Observer: Richard Nolthenius (831) 479-6506, rinolthe at cabrillo.edu
Asteroid, Star: (568) Cheruskia occulted 2UCAC 32855047
Telescope: 10" Meade LX200 f/10, equatorial, 40mm eyepiece
Location: Pt. Reyes National Seashore hostel, W.Long= 122 51.68', N. Lat 38 02.65, elev 147ft, WGS84 coordinates from USGS map at topozone.com
Method: Voice/WWV/tape recorder
Sky: clear, good seeing, star visibility: continuously visible but only a few tenths fainter and this would be very hard to keep in continuous view
Timings: Dec 24, 2004 UT
D: 09:54:58.35 acc=0.25sec, reaction time 0.8 sec
R: 09:54:59.82 acc=0.2sec, reaction time 0.4 sec
Comments: Began continuous observing at 09:53:00, end 09:56:55 UT. No satellite events of duration longer than 0.3 seconds. Otherwise, strong confidence in the timings above. Too faint to comment on any possible gradual or step-wise events. Asteroid might have been visible during D, but with only 1.5 second occultation, can't be sure. It would have been on the ragged edge of the magnitude limit. Expected duration 7.2 seconds, so I was evidently near one of the limits, although nominally quite close to the centerline.
Report: Notification of this web posting sent to David Dunham. No report to Manek yet.