This chart is not properly horizontal-flipped for using with the diagonal, so use the far right one instead
Use this chart at the telescope
This is a decently ranked event. Odds of a hit from my home are 53%, and 40% for Karl. It happens 2h 18m after my first Astro 3 6-9pm class gets out. Odds are better further west. I've got time, to get home, pack scope, and drive up to upper meadow UCSC if fog threatens. Cabrillo College, anyway, sits right on Karl von Ahnen's track.
The star is at alt=47, Az=235. Not perfect for home, but it could work from the driveway/rd spot, but awkward this early in the evening.
The drop is full for up to 2.0 seconds. The target is in Ophiuchus, just off the wide double star left side shoulder.
This chart is not properly horizontal-flipped for using with the diagonal, so use the far right one instead |
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Use this chart at the telescope |
Clear dry skies, no weather trouble. Kirk drove to "the berm" and had a 2-sec event. I stayed home, and got a miss. Karl got a recording and while unreduced, he's reviewed on the big screen TV and it looks like a miss, as should be expected since both me and Bill G had misses from closer to the limit.
Richard Nolthenius
I reduced in PyMovie using static circular apertures, did not use the target as a tracking star but instead stars far apart on either side. I did not use the new "tight mask" option, as it seemed to freeze the analysis. Perhaps the sky was too bright to do this kind of analysis here. I also did not use the flat/dark correction procedures, since I am still unclear how to use them properly. Not necessary; it was a clear miss.
The spike in ref3 was because the star drifted into the VTI numerals. |
Target star light curve. apparently there was a bit of variable haze, lit by the nearby almost full moon. |
Identical pattern seen in the other reference stars. |
Using Ref1 as the reference star, nicely smoothed out the target star... |
And what I thought by eye might be a partial occultation a few seconds after the predicted time, was just part of the variable haze. A clear miss was what I had, just as Bill G did, only 0.2 km from my track. |
The target star is in the center. |
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Kirk drove deeper into the path, closer to the centerline, and to give better spacing. And, it worked out well - he got a 2s occultation.
Karl got a successful recording from his front yard. Reviewed on his big screen TV - and it was a miss. As it should be, given he was on the far side of me and Bill G and we had misses too.
