This bright occultation is only of medium rank, but near the centerline the odds are over 50%. Kirk and my stations are both near 55% odds. We can use 2x integration or even 1x if clouds don't interfere. Sites are at Kirk's old site at the start of the grade up to the winding road to Pinnacles, and for me at the ranch site used by Kirk once for a prior event, north of Pinnacles and south of the fire station.
Altitude is 41 degrees in Az 148, in Aquila, below/right of the bottom "wing" star. If fog threatens, retreat to up La Gloria Rd. which peaks at 2400 ft elevation. Pinnacles campground is at 1100 ft only.
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Kirk and I both got light curves, through some thin clouds, of this bright star. Alas, a miss for both of us
There's that ranch with the two entrances. One entrance on the north side is the one the residents use, and there's another entrance a few hundred yards further south which doesn't look used by the owners, and which we used for Kirk's asteroid occn site maybe 5 months ago or so. It served just fine for me, and I had clear skies around the target during the event. A definite miss. I'll post photos soon.
The target was that dimmer star just below the brighter star, in the middle. The asteroid was 1/100th the brightness of the star, so the event should have sent the image to zero level. |
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IOTA report sent in July 14; just the report form alone.
Kirk observed from the south end of Cienega Valley, at a ranch road entrance we'd used before. He had a worse time with clouds, but compensated with a higher setting than we'd talked about using for these short events. The predicted occultation time corresponded to a thinner spot in the clouds, and so it looks like a miss, with good certainty.
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Fortunately, the clouds were thinner over the target during the short predicted event window. Enough to confidently conclude it was a miss. An occultation would have taken the level to zero. |
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