The profile, from longitude 118.00. The sunlit northern cusp is shown on the left side. The graze happens 4 degrees from the cusp. Events can happen any time from 5:15:00am to 5:19:00am. The best tracks are 1.15mi south, and 1.5 mi south.
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Our Station #1. Is at 1.20 miles south of the limit line. Nominal elevation is 666 meters. At that time of the early morning there will be little traffic. There's an old rest stop here that we can colonize.
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1500 ft further south is our Station #2 at 1.50 miles south of the limit line. We'll have to see if that wash is cross-able. If too sandy, we will have to set up just on the northern edge of it at 1.40 mi south.
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An alternate site is at 1.10 mi south, which unfortunately divides our group being too close to the highway. But it might have a marginally better chance of many events. |
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This graze - at 5:17am - should be easily visible in our 8" scope which will be at the student graze station, and I'll videorecord for us in the 10" SCT scope at my station. The star will approach the moon from the bright side and be tough to see until less than a minute before the graze actually begins. Then it'll emerge onto the dark side, against the ghostly earthlit moon near the northern cusp.The profile looks good, with the possibility of many small hills and canyons for the star to play hide-and-seek with. The prediction sheet is here. The look of the graze site area should be pretty much like the photo at left. Right after the graze, the light of dawn will begin, making beautiful colorations on the desert cliffs. Bring your cameras! We'll plan to set up on the dirt road just west of the highway. I may get a chance to re-conn this area during our Saturday late afternoon 'down time'. We'll see how drive-able the wash is, for getting to 1.5 mi south of the limit line. At 5am there should be very little traffic on the main highway. 
