This is a good event, 96% odds of a hit from north of Santa Cruz, convenient time, and full drop for 1.3 seconds, Hope for clear skies, as cirrus invades our skies as I write this. It's a VERY narrow path, and odds from home are slim; I'll drive up to the north end of UC Santa Cruz to set up.
Karl's home is good, Kirk's on the southern limit, and might consider going to "the berm" for better positioning.
https://cloud.occultwatcher.net/event/1035-5628-27165-649086-U003313/1250365
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Clear skies, calm conditions, a gibbous moon low in the East. I had freshly re-charged the OccBox 14ah battery and it worked normally. In the prior afternoon, I had tested out a new microphone, as I have been getting a loud hum from my recordings with the other microphone. The new mic worked great! No hum. The target star was clearly visible at 2x, and given the short 1.3s duration, I settled on 2x setting. Other settings were normal: sharpness=4, gain=41, gamma=1.0.
magDrop report: percentDrop: 90.8 magDrop: 2.596 +/- 1.134 (0.95 ci)
DNR: 2.73
D time: [05:32:38.8758]
D: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0125} seconds
D: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0349} seconds
D: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0953} seconds
R time: [05:32:39.5972]
R: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0125} seconds
R: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0349} seconds
R: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0953} seconds
Duration (R - D): 0.7214 seconds
Duration: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0187} seconds
Duration: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0470} seconds
Duration: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.1034} seconds
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I used a 222 frame Fourier finder to enable using the TME aperture, but I did so only on that reference star, and the closer reference star I used a 4 px circular aperture, same as for the target. The oscillations in the "track" star may be due to the fact that many pixels were saturated. |
Ref1 star, used static aperture |
Target star, used static aperture |
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Using a reference star didn't seem to much affect the wavyness. There was light cirrus during the day, but none was evident in the evening. But there likely was some very thin cirrus anyway. Might be relevant. |
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Below, Kirk got a much longer 1.5s event even though he was only a few miles north of me. But note this was a very small asteroid and the path was very narrow. Our two very different times are not inconsistent, and both our light curves are very high S/N. I was likely nearer the southern limit than the nominal predicted path, and I was likely on the actual centerline. Small asteroids also often have very non-circular shapes.
Observed from "The Berm" further up Empire Grade, and also had a successful positive. Here's his account...
Duration: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0767} seconds
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Visually watched on the LCD screen and saw a short event, but on playback, just the "blue screen of death". No recording. May have to get into the habit of video'ing the LCD screen with his digital camera's video mode.
