The Occultation of a W=11.3 Star by Asteroid Faina

Tue eve 5:38:37pm

OWc page

This is a twilight event and so will take quick efficient work to 2-star align and get on-target fast. The sun angle is only -9 degrees. The star is bright enough to see at that altitude, but sky brightness will definitely be an issue. Getting 2-star align will be the first challenge. Pick bright stars and don't wait for Polaris to show up. I'd suggest Sirius and Capella as your two align stars. The crescent moon will not be an issue but will be 11 degrees up in the west.

I am constrained by having to teach at that moment at Cabrillo, although I plan to migrate my classroom schedule just a bit to enable setting up and getting this event from ourside the STEM building on campus. Kirk and Karl's homes lie on top of each other's track, so it would be best if one of you choose a different track.

Alt=24, Az=189 just above the tail fin of Pisces Austrinus

The duration is 3.5s and dip is 2.3 magnitudes, so it should be easy if you can find it.

     

 

Results:

I observed from outside Rm 806 at Cabrillo, got a ~2 s positive. Kirk couldn't get on target due to poor 2-star alignment, Karl had target acquisition trouble too. Ted Swift got it.

Richard Nolthenius

Got a good clean 3.8s drop. The sky brightness of the sun at -9 deg altitude insured that the sky was not dark enough for the histogram of sky points to be clipped at the low end. I used vertical median filtering, and I used just one tracking star, which was also the ref star.

magDrop report: percentDrop: 78.9 magDrop: 1.687 +/- 0.182 (0.95 ci)

DNR: 2.77

D time: [01:38:35.2271]
D: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0141} seconds
D: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0387} seconds
D: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.1149} seconds

R time: [01:38:39.0270]
R: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0141} seconds
R: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0387} seconds
R: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.1149} seconds

Duration (R - D): 3.7999 seconds
Duration: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0210} seconds
Duration: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0533} seconds
Duration: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.1250} seconds