The Occultation of a W=13.5 Star by Mussorgskia

Tue eve Aug 20, 2024 at 11:42:08pm

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This is a wide path event that includes all of Santa Cruz and the southern Santa Cruz Mtns. Karl, Kirk and I are all well within the path. The duration is a generous 3.1s, the altitude is a nice alt=45 degrees, Az=125. The problem is that the star is only 14 degrees from the 97% waning moon, making for a bright sky that will limit the ability to integrate. It may still be doable, and is a no-sleep-loss time so I will give it a try from home. The other problem, is that the dip in brightness is only 0.8 mag in the R band

Alt=42, Az=125 just left of the "tripod" of Aquarius

 

     

 

Results:

Richard Nolthenius

I got a recording from my carport at 4x setting. Skies were warm, dry, and no clouds. The sky was bright at 8x, but not bright enough to fail to see the star fairly steadily on the monitor. It looked like a ~2s occultation on the monitor, but hard to say more till I reduce it.

 

   

magDrop report: percentDrop: 32.3 magDrop: 0.424 +/- 0.179 (0.95 ci)

DNR: 1.17

D time: [06:42:05.6406]
D: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.3218} seconds
D: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 1.1821} seconds
D: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 3.0126} seconds

R time: [06:42:09.1606]
R: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.3218} seconds
R: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 1.1821} seconds
R: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 3.0126} seconds

Duration (R - D): 3.5200 seconds
Duration: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.5653} seconds
Duration: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 1.6524} seconds
Duration: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 3.5960} seconds


   


Kirk Bender

Recorded from home at 8x, got a successful recording. (RN: looks like there were cleaner skies at Kirk's. His light curves trend level. Mine show dips and doodles from wisps of gunk, presumably. So, his timings have better accuracy as well, despite the coarser time resolution.)

I got a 2.9362 sec event for Mussorgskia from home at 8x, not much contrast because of the moonlight, noisy but easily passed false positive.

magDrop report: percentDrop: 37.5  magDrop: 0.511  +/- 0.153  (0.95 ci)

DNR: 1.60

D time: [06:42:06.3260]
D: 0.6800 containment intervals:  {+/- 0.1272} seconds
D: 0.9500 containment intervals:  {+/- 0.4895} seconds
D: 0.9973 containment intervals:  {+/- 1.2473} seconds

R time: [06:42:09.2622]
R: 0.6800 containment intervals:  {+/- 0.1272} seconds
R: 0.9500 containment intervals:  {+/- 0.4895} seconds
R: 0.9973 containment intervals:  {+/- 1.2473} seconds

Duration (R - D): 2.9362 seconds
Duration: 0.6800 containment intervals:  {+/- 0.2303} seconds
Duration: 0.9500 containment intervals:  {+/- 0.6795} seconds
Duration: 0.9973 containment intervals:  {+/- 1.4541} seconds