This event is only 0.2s long, and so will require 1x integration to record it, and good weather of course. The moon is bright at 98% and only 15 deg away, so this one is not easy. But it goes right through Santa Cruz, at a convenient time. The rank is such that Karl's got a chance from his place, although he's outside the path.
Alt=24, Az=130, 98% moon only 15 deg away, and sun = -10
It is halfway between the "teaspoon" of Sagittarius, and the tail feathers of Aquila/Scutum. The rank is not great, and odds of a miss anywhere are significant. But, this event is only 50 minutes before another 11th mag event that is longer and has better odds, so it's worth going for the pair, if skies are clear. I've claimed a site at the bike crossing of upper UCSC.
|
|
I observed this one from Llama Lane in Cave Gulch. I was able to positive ID the field and target despite the strong twilight (sun= -10 at event time) and full moonlight.
The predicted drop of 7.7 magnitudes would, I believe, be detectable over a full 0.2 sec duration. There was a dip of several 2x integrations at the predicted time, but not deep enough to be eye-catching enough to claim an occultation. PyOTE could not find the event using the D and R intervals selected. I next tried min=4, max=8 for event duration, based on the look of the light curve. 13,000 possibilities to check through... it never resolved, never finished nor gave an error.
The look o fthe light curve suggests a drop to 1/2 brightness for the predicted ~0.2 sec, right at the event time. Binary star? But the significance is not enough to make a definitive claim or differentiate it from a 'miss'. It certainly does not look like a full duration full depth occultation, that would be detectable and above the significance threshold. So, my own judgement is that it was either a binary star with just one component occulted, or else it was a miss. Other possibilities lost in noise. PyOTE recommends reporting a "no observation". I'm not submitting an IOTA report.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Kirk had trouble getting the telescope on target, could not ID field and got a recording with the target off the field. Strong twilight and moonlight made it tough. No data.