This is a good opportunity to discover the suspected moon orbiting Milton, which so far is only hinted by the astrometric pattern from Gaia data. According to Wikipedia, Milton has had only one prior stellar occultation, in 2021. The moon could be off path, so anyone in the general Santa Cruz or south bay area is worth a go at this evening event. Clouds are a problem, but the star may shine through the cirrus, we hope. Or it may be a big clear spot.
Alt=33, Az=253 in Monoceros in the west.
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I was at the Canham Rd trailhead for the East Glenview Open Space Preserve. We had drifting cirrus clouds tonight, but big clear areas in between. I was lucky and the sky was clear around the target during the event. Observed at 4x, saw a clear occultation of maybe 0.3 or 0.4s. Anything shorter than 0.15s could be missed visually but still show on the recording, so no opinion yet on any small moonlet.
magDrop report: percentDrop: 93.9 magDrop: 3.030 +/- 0.852 (0.95 ci)
DNR: 3.40
D time: [06:25:01.4211]
D: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0141} seconds
D: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0376} seconds
D: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0733} seconds
R time: [06:25:01.8781]
R: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0141} seconds
R: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0376} seconds
R: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0733} seconds
Duration (R - D): 0.4570 seconds
Duration: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0208} seconds
Duration: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0474} seconds
Duration: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0844} seconds
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No other data points reach down to zero, and those that get low are only single points, and consistent with the general noise level. No evidence of the suspected moon. |
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I got a noisy 0.2s positive for Milton, 2x at the Berm. I tried several mask sizes in PyMovie, with best results of 2.4. Maybe I should have used 4x, but I thought 2x could better capture any short secondary events for this Gaiamoons event. I was closer to the edge of the path than Rick and Karl to get a different chord. I don't see any secondary events in the noise. I got a dark frame recording afterwards, and tonight I'll get a twilight flat field for uploading to the occultation portal.
PyOTE NIE sigma distance = 2.1.
magDrop report: percentDrop: 84.5 magDrop: 2.022 +/- 1.495 (0.95 ci)
DNR: 1.86
D time: [06:25:01.2059]
D: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0171} seconds
D: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0637} seconds
D: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.1636} seconds
R time: [06:25:01.4061]
R: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0171} seconds
R: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0637} seconds
R: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.1636} seconds
Duration (R - D): 0.2002 seconds
Duration: 0.6800 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0280} seconds
Duration: 0.9500 containment intervals: {+/- 0.0784} seconds
Duration: 0.9973 containment intervals: {+/- 0.1772} seconds
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Ran out of time in ID'ing the target field. Clear around target area. No data.
