The Occultation of a 12.4 Combined by Asteroid Aaltje

Jan 14, 2026 at 11:06:15pm

OWc page

This is a large asteroid and a long duration of 2.6s, and so lends itself to possible discovery of a mid sized moon, if present. the combined image will be 12.7, and at the occultation will drop to W=13.7 for asteroid alone.

I will try this from my carport, which has a good directional view.

Alt=53, Az=124 in Cancer, halfway between the Head of Hydra and the Beehive Cluster

Results:

Richard Nolthenius

I got a positive from my carport, visually live watching the event on the Lenovo laptop. 8x setting.

NIEtest: 22.7 sigma
magDrop report: percentDrop: 74.7 magDrop: 1.491 +/- 0.240 (0.95 ci)

DNR: 4.67

D time: [07:06:15.0268]
D: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0302} seconds
D: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0771} seconds
D: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.1431} seconds

R time: [07:06:17.1577]
R: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0302} seconds
R: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0771} seconds
R: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.1431} seconds

Duration (R - D): 2.1309 seconds
Duration: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0450} seconds
Duration: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0998} seconds
Duration: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.1821} seconds

Kirk Bender

Karl von Ahnen

(677) Aaltje from S of Rock, 8X, Clear, dark, v. good transparency, seeing kind of poor, no breeze. We could see the asteroid approach. dimmed out for about 1 sec

magDrop report: percentDrop: 75.5  magDrop: 1.527  +/- 0.148  (0.95 ci)