This is one of the brightest targets of the year, and nicks the western edge of Santa Cruz. Otherwise, must drive to south of Watsonville to get deep into the path. The RUWE isn't perfect, at 1.35, but not terrible. Odds are still good at Natural Bridges
Alt=62, Az=119 high in the SE in Gemini
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Richard Nolthenius
I observed from Natural Bridges Rd about 60 ft from West Cliff at the entrance. Skies around the target were clear. I didn't see any modulation in the light curve. I observed at 1x and the star still quite bright and solid. No hint of an occultation at the time. 4s later there was a bit of a jig/jag in the light curve but not enough to claim any event happened, and the light loss at low point was only a couple tenths of a magnitude anyway. I was the only observer. Nominal odds in the prediction for my spot was 84% for a hit, but the RUWE is not included in that calculation (?)
I tried to reduce the possibility of saturated pixels by defocusing. That was a mistake: I should have lowered the gain instead |
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Result: A miss.
