This is a very good event in that it's quite long; 11 seconds. That will give good long integrations a solid chance to see moonlets and detailed shape of the asteroid. It's faint, at W=13.4, so settings of 8x will probably be needed but R=12.75 so maybe 4x will be OK, to get good S/N. But even 8x is still just 1/80th of the diameter of the asteroid, so should give great data.
Alt=71, Az=216 in the high SW. In Gemini, between the ankles of the Twins
Target is nicely close to a bright pair of close stars so field ID should be easy. 20 minutes before the event, the altitude will be 73 degrees. This is still do-able with the f/3.3 configuration, but I'd recommend waiting until you're sure the Watec will be clear of the base before inserting it. 20 minutes before the event, with base of tripod flat (don't be tipping your tripod, that seems to invite bad azimuth pointing in my experience. Be extra careful to make your tripod level, then GoTo your target with the eyepiece still in, and ID it, make sure the gear slack is all taken up and it's no more than 20 minutes before the event, and then slip in the Watec. Also be sure the telescope is as pushed up into the dovetail as it can go, before clamping it.
High altitude and no moon and being in the high SC Mtns means I expect very dark skies (if the clouds stay away).
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I drove Kirk to Karl's where we helped get his computers past certain troubles in using PyMovie and PyOTE. We also decided our stations for this Dresda occultation. I drove Kirk to Garth and Kelly's, where Kirk observed from the parking area. I drove to Mtn Charlie monument a couple of miles further south. I got a good long occultation on the monitor. Don't know how long but roughy 8-10s or so. Then did a GoTo the Martschmidt target star next Sunday. It was easy to see at 8x, much harder at 4x but still visible. Unclear how well a 0.22s event would show at 4x. Conditions were cold, damp, but clear and moonless.
I set up at the Mtn Charlie monument. Skies were clear and cold and calm. I used 8x. There was a clear occultation on the monitor, which stayed connected
Set up at Garth/Kelly's parking area next to Old Santa Cruz Hwy. I got a distinct 9.6766 sec event for Dresda from Garth's place last night, at 8x. There was some slight slope in the tracking star curves, but it looked clear to me and in a 30 sec photo from my phone. I smoothed the target on a tracking star as usual.
magDrop report: percentDrop: 79.1 magDrop: 1.701 +/- 0.223 (0.95 ci)
DNR: 2.86
D time: [05:42:51.9936]
D: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0473} seconds
D: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.1257} seconds
D: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.3057} seconds
R time: [05:43:01.6702]
R: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0473} seconds
R: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.1257} seconds
R: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.3057} seconds
Duration (R - D): 9.6766 seconds
Duration: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0707} seconds
Duration: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.1706} seconds
Duration: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.3558} seconds
Set up from home