2022 Astro Events
Jan 1 - Sat 9:04:52pm - Occultation of 12.7 drop 0.6 by Lanzia, from home, good rank. 58 alt. Jan 1 - Sat 9:09:11pm - Occultation of 13.7 drop 1.2 by Painleva, from home decent rank. Can you swing from Taurus to Gemini in 4 minutes? Results: Success! Kirk got both events from home, I got both from Mar Monte Rd. in La Selva. Planning and Results page
Jan 6 -Thur 10pm - Occultation of a 12.1 star by Tolosa, in Santa Cruz and north. Good rank. Planning and Results page. Results: Kirk and I both got good positive recordings. Karl was fogged out. I observed from Braemoor Rd in BD, Kirk from the Eco Reserve
Jan 7 - Fri eve 11:54pm - Occultation of a 7.8 star by the Kuiper Belt Object 2005 XU100. Odds only 5% but valuable and 25 other observers are ranging across the possible path. Planning and Results page. Results: No software-reductions yet officially, but I saw no events during a 22 minute long recording. Neither did Kirk or Karl
Jan 9 - Sun 2:47am - Occultation of 12.8 by Wells from home on centerline. Good rank. Planning and Reductions page Results: I observed from home, Kirk from upper UCSC and both of us saw positive occultations
Jan 10 Mon 12:12:24am - Occultation of a 10.1 by TNO 2004XX190, a RECON event. Planning page Results: Kirk and I both got recordings, although started late. No events seen.
Jan 11 - Tue 9:08pm - Occultation of 13.8 by Gerhard, 50% odds from home. 47alt, 1.6s dur and full drop. Planning and Results page Results: I recorded, but for the +-30s around the event, the clouds were too thick to get the event. Kirk recorded from home too, will reduce later.
Jan 30 Sunday 7:48pm - Occultation of 13.1 by KBO 2002 KY14, from home. Planning and Results page . Results: Kirk and I both recorded.. a miss.
Jan 31 Monday 2:08am - Occultation of 10.9 by TARDIS, from Rodeo Gulch, good rank, only 50% from home. Planning and Results page . Results: Kirk and I both got it through clouds. It looks like I got a 2sec event, 6 sec late, but that's only 1-sigma off the prediction and reasonable. Kirk would then have had a miss, and that looks true from his light curve.
Feb 2 Wed 3:24am - Occultation of 12.8 by Hammonia from home, good rank 2.2s 1.8 drop. Planning and Results page Results: Kirk and I both got solid positives, from home. Agree very well with the DAMIT model.
Feb 4 Friday 10:46pm - Occultation of 13.9 by Arizona, from home, 52% odds, or 71% odds from Moss Landing. Planning and Results page Results: I drove to Wilder Ranch, Kirk stayed home. We both got misses. Looks like Paul Maley near the center line got a ~1 sec event.
Feb 9 - 10:09pm - Occultation of a 8.9 star by Comet 77P Longmore. Planning and Results page. Results: Kirk and I both saw a miss, Not clear at this late date whether Kirk got an actual recording or only visually saw a miss. I have on my summary page "only I got a recording"(?). Anyway, unsurprising with only 6% odds, from home.
Feb 14 Mon 7:00pm - Occultation of 12.1 by Hedda, from Santa Cruz, decent rank, 68 alt in the East. Planning page Results: We were all clouded out, but gave valiant try. I drove to Rodeo Gulch, Karl at home, and Kirk drove to upper UCSC and was the only to get a recording, but clouds too thick to see any event in the light curve.
Feb 16 Wed 10:02pm - Occultation of 13.0 by Theobalda, from Santa Cruz Mtns, 81 alt in west. Planning and results page Results: I drove up to Laguna Rd off Hwy 1, didn't allow quite enough time to get on target using the diagonal, missed it by seconds. Kirk got a good recording. Karl had trouble ID'ing the field.
Feb 20 Sun morn 4:20am - Occn of 12.9 from Santa Cruz by Volga. Only 16 alt. Not favorable. 2.6s duration. Tough. Planning page Results: clouded out, though Kirk and I did set the alarm and were game. No data from our team.
Feb 27 7:02pm - Occultation of a 14.1 by Freda, from Pinnacles and a bit north too. Perhaps a trail running day at Pinnacles, followed by Occn on the way home, sounds fun. 70 deg altitude do-able with standard configuration. Planning and Results page. Results: I did do a trail run at Pinnacles, and on the way home, stopped at a dirt road about 10 miles south of Paicines for the event. Got a successful recording at 16x of about 2-3 seconds.
Mar 6 - Sunday 3:32am Occultation of 11.9 by Tyche from Santa Cruz. But only 15 altitude. Planning and Results page. Results: I drove up to UCSC Upper meadow and got a positive in noisy 2x data. Kirk got a 4x recording and thinks he has a positive as well, as would be expected. My timings look too noisy and might be rejects by DH. They're checking with Tangra.
Mar 13 Sunday 8pm - Occultation of a 13.0 by Gyptis, 0.4 drop is hard but 8.6s duration, but integration will be challenged by sun at -9. Try from home. Doable by Karl too, near northern limit. 63 alt in Orion so should be accessible by all. Weather looks iffy. Combine with... (if weather cooperates) Planning page. Results: Karl, Kirk and I all tried it, but bright star erroneous data in C2A caused us to fail to ID the field in time. No data.
March 19 - Occultation of 13.1 by the asteroid Pranverahyseni at 10:10pm. Low rank but a nice team project for the NorCal group. Planning and Results page. Kirk and I both got misses. Karl did not try it.
Mar 31 - Thur 12:32am - Occultation of 9.6 by Pafuri, 25 alt, high rank from home for Team Santa Cruz. Planning and Results page Results: I got a good 6.3s positive, Kirk had success too. Karl ran out of time getting set up away from home.
Apr 1-3 Astro 27 field class at Laguna Mountain and Pinnacles National Park. Pre-trip meeting Thur eve Mar 17. Results: A great trip... but with just 2 students(!)
Apr 10 Sun eve 9:35pm - Occultation of 14.2 by Megantic, full drop, 47alt, 33% odds from lighthouse, need to go to Las Lomas area for good odds. Planning and Results page Results: I drove Kirk to Salinas Rd and myself to Moss Landing. We got the occultation and had dips at the right time, but S/N was too poor to be reportable. I will try again this time using the vertical noise median filter.
Apr 12 Tue morn 2:30am - Occultation of 12.8 star by (17270) Nolthenius, from Central California, for 2.8s full drop. Santa Cruz near path center but low rank. Sagittarius. Planning and Results page Results: Karl and Kirk got good data - of a miss. I was between them, but was off-target.
Apr 22-24 - Astro 25 field class. Location - Carrizo Plain. Friday night we get a nice asteroid occultation Results:A great trip with clear skies
Apr 22 - 9:38pm Occultation of 12.5 by asteroid Suevia, from Carrizo Plain and our usual campsite. Planning and Results page
May 2 - Mon 3:08am - Occultation of 11.5 star by Vibilia from Santa Cruz. 19s duration, so prospects of good profile mapping. Planning and Results page Results: Success! Kirk at UCSC and me at West Cliff
May 3 Tue eve 9:38pm - Occultation of 12.5 by Thetis, from Santa Cruz - I'll try it from outside Room 705 where my Astro 8A students will be working on their astrophoto projects. Planning and Results page Results: Kirk, Karl and I all got recordings. Kirk's is solid. Karl's yet to be reduced, and mine is noisy but Tony George took the .avi file and applied a vertical noise filter and goet a positive out of it - I'm impressed!
May 15 Sunday evening at sunset - a Total Lunar Eclipse. Total eclipse begins shortly after moonrise and ends at 9:54pm with moon at +17 degrees altitude and sun at -17 degrees. Should be a nice photo opportunity. I plan to get it from Seabright beach and get the lighthouse and Fremont Peak in the images. Results: Beautiful eclipse, photo'd with Kirk down at Seabright beach. Photopage
May 25 - Silicon Valley Series; Sandy Faber's talk "Do Humans Have What it Takes to Thrive in this Universe?"
May 30 Monday 3:28am - Occultation of 11.3 0.5 drop, by Scheila, 11s duration. from top of Stage Road San Gregorio. Memorial Day holiday. Results: Kirk and I set up at San Gregorio and Pescadero and got nice successes. Planning and Results page
May 30 Monday eve - 10pm or so, possible meteor storm by Tau Herculids, as debris from its breakup in 1995. Note radiant may be closer to Arcturus than Tau Herculis for this storm. Meteors will be slow, 16km/sec. Results: Kirk and I photo'd from Marshall Meadow UCSC, no storm, but we did see maybe 20 mostly Tau Herculids during our 2 hrs. Picture page.
June 1 Wed 1:44am - Occn of 13.6 by Volga, from Santa Cruz, 28alt 185az in Scorpius 1.1 drop, 4s. Odds about 50/50 from Santa Cruz, mediocre rank , better for Karl. Results: Kirk and I both got successful occultations; from Kirk's home, and me from Mill St. Planning and Results page
June 3 Fri 1:48am - Occn by Crocus of 13.3 star from Las Lomas, and 48% odds from Santa Cruz; I'll probably stay home and sleep better, 39 alt in Ophiuchus/Serpens. Results: Kirk and I both observed from home. Some passing low clouds bothered, but not at the moment of predicted occultation. We both had misses. Planning and Results page.
Jun 9 Thur 12-2pm - my " A Critique of William Nordhaus in light of Modern Climate Science- Part 3" for the Earth Futures Institute at UCSC. PDF of my powerpoint.
June 11 Sat 2:08am - Occultation by the moon Weywot (of the large KBO Quouar). We're near centerline but odds are only 2.6% of a hit. But many observers have signed on to try to get this, so it's worth a go. It would be a good deal to get it, as we only have faint images from Hubble to go on now. Planning and Results page. Results: Kirk and I both got solid recordings at 32x, both were misses.
June 11 Sat morning:
But we have a conflict: there is a high-confidence occultation of a 13.0 star in Sagittarius just 12 minutes later.Very tough to do both. From Santa Cruz. Planning page. Results: Kirk got a good recording of a miss. I was also at home, just 2 miles away, so very likely had a miss too. But, I was unable to locate the field in time, after the Weywot occultation, so I have no observation. Ornamenta Results
June 16 12:59am - Occultation of an 11.3 by 1998 ED6, from Santa Cruz. Rank 52, odds of a hit 31%. Full drop, 20 deg alti in Az 145, but big moon 4 degrees right of the target. Planning and Results page Results: A miss for me, too bright and no data for Karl and Kirk.
June 24 11:41pm - Occultaion of 12.9 by Erida, from Santa Cruz. High rank, but only 17 degrees altitude and 0.5 drop for 7 seconds. Will take good conditions. Planning and Results page Results: Got a 5s occultation from upper meadow UCSC. Re-analysis by David Herald was crucial, as standard aperture photometry failed in this crowded field.
June 25 Sat 3:06am - Occultation of 13.8 by Tiburcio, from Santa Cruz, 50% odds drop 2.0 alt 17 at az=226 Ophiuchus. Planning and Results page I spent the night at the Upper Meadow of UCSC. results were inconclusive. Can't claim a hit or miss on this faint object.
June 30 Thur 11:33pm - Occultation of 8.3 star by Alkemene, 21 alt, 5.6s duration. The star position has issues: "RUWE high" which means we can't trust the predicted path. Target less than a degree from Spica. Planning and Results page Results: I got above fog at Marshall Meadow UCSC, and got lucky with a 4.7s easy occultation.
July 3 Sunday 1:27am - Occultation of a 10.3 by Cranach. Southern limit at Karl's place. Maybe movie night, followed by Karl getting the event there from home while I drive to Hwy 17 to try it. Yes, that's the plan. Planning and Results page Results: Movie night! And Karl set up got got fogged out. I climbed up Mt Bache which poked just a hundred feet or so above the fog. Beautiful skies, and a miss.
July 4 Monday 1:55am - Occultation of a 14.1 by Paris. Centerline on Santa Cruz, 38 altitude in Aquarius in SE Az=154. Decent rank, a virtual "sure thing". Planning and Results page. Results: Kirk and I both got tapings.But I taped a very similar nearly identical star pattern - somewhere wrong! I got nothing. Kirk got a nice 2.7s occultation to complement Jerry B's, adding good value for this Jupiter Trojan event.
Jul 5 Tue 9:36pm - Occultation of a 14.2 by Graff. Santa Cruz on southern limit. Drive up Empire Grade for better odds on high rank event. Planning and Results page. Results: Occn visible by 'finders' method, but not reported as 'finders' method not sanctioned or software enabled.
Jul 6 Wed 11:35pm - Occultation of 14.1 by Putilin from from home, 27=alt Az=160. and a double event. Planning page, followed soon after by...
Jul 7 Thur 12:16am - Occultation of 13.5 by Belopolskya I'll try from home, alt=33 az 188 Ophiuchus. Odds 33% from home, Planning page
July 7 Thur 1:45am - Occultation of 14.2 by 1999 RM11 - from Santa Cruz on centerline. Very close to tip of teapot of Sagittarius Planning page
July 8 Fri morn 2:00am - Occultation of a 13.7 by Gilgamesh - from home. Good rank, high altitude 44 degrees. Only 1.9s duration, full drop. Planning page
July 9 Fri night 10:19:35pm - Occultation of an 11.1 by asteroid Hiraoka, from Tres Pinos. 25 deg up in Az 109 in ESE. 66% odds for Kirk and I at our stations. Planning page Results: Kirk and I both recorded misses
July 10 Sat Morn 12:
am - Occultation of a 10.3 star by asteroid Pordenone, from south of Paicines. Odds 56% for Kirk and I's stations bracketing Centerline. Planning page Results: Kirk and I both recorded misses.
July 9 Sat morn 2am - Occultation of 8.7 star by 8.5 magnitude Titan (Saturn's moon). Northern limit of hard surface through San Jose or Santa Cruz depending on prediction source. Info page, and IOTA pdf, and our own Planning page. Results: Kirk, Karl and I all got data on Titan. Kirk sent his to LuckyStar right away, I sent mine in August. I still need to send off Karl's data.
July 19 - Tue morn 12:32am - Occultation of a 13.6 star by Andree, from Salinas. 27% odds from SC, 40% from Salinas and Tres Pinos. I'm inclined to try it from home if clear, and skip if not clear. Planning page. Alt 34 deg in Az 191. I recorded from Rincon St., Moon low in east 6 deg up. Results: a miss, didn't see a drop.
July 20 - Occultation of a 12.6 star by Kathywhaler - from Santa Cruz. 13 degree altitude at Az=146. and sun at -13. Planning page. Results: I observed from the upper UCSC meadow, north side, walking my table and scope about 100 ft behind the gate. A miss.
July 22-24 - Astro 25 summer session, location Stanislaus River caverns. Saturday morning our campsite is in the path for Antiope occultation of a 13.9 star in the center of Capricorn. The asteroid is 11.6 and the dip is only 0.1 magnitude lasting 13 seconds. With maybe 8x or 16x integration it should be detectable after processing. 31 altitude in 193, which I believe is a good direction from our campsite ridge. This is a close binary asteroid and so we may be able to see both components do an occultation. Ted Swift will try also. Worth a go. Planning page Results: Kirk and I both recorded at camp. Got a "hit", but hard to pull the 'redbar' to 0 probability of a false positive, so far. Jerry B got an 8 sec event from about 10 miles cross-track north of us.
Aug 8 11:31pm - Occultation of a 15.3 star by the large KBO object Quaoar. 12 degrees above the strong gibbous moon, in Sagittarius. Should be do-able, barely, from the 12" at Cabrillo. Probably do-able with 8" scope using my 'finder' technique, but not otherwise. 16x maximum integration under clean skies, is what I've determined. Planning page for this important event. Results: Kirk and I both got PyOTE confirmed successes, but the data is very noisy. Sent to LuckyStar. Not sure what DH and IOTA will decide on it.
Aug 13 Sat- IOTA Summer Meeting. I give my Presentation at ~3:22pm PDT "A New Method to Measure Low S/N Events in PyMovie/PyOTE" (PDF)
Aug 13 Sat 9:42pm - Occultation of a 14.2 star by Aesculapia, from Santa Cruz - 28 alt at 173 Az, ~full moon on horizon 74 deg away. 6s duration means long integration may work to bring this one to observability. High rank, we're near centerline, worth a go as it doesn't lose sleep for us. Planning page. Results: Kirk got a solid positive from BD; I drove to San Andreas Rd, down in the marine layer, and got a recording recoverable only with 'finders' technique. GAIN inadvertant set at 29. My "finder" method recovers a manual D and R consistent with Kirk's event.
Aug 18 Thur 9:39pm - Occultation of a 12.7 star by Riga, from Santa Cruz and west of there. Karl has 50% odds. I've planned for Sunlit Lane, with 74% odds. 58 deg altitude due south. Should be a good event. Planning page Results: Kirk got great data from BD Eco Reserve. I got a PowerShot recording off my LCD screen with good data at Locatelli Meadow. Karl had a miss recorded from home. Results submitted within a few days to IOTA
Aug 20 Sat 10:55pm - Occultation of a 14.6 by (6260 P-L). Very tough. 14.6 star only 21 degrees up and low rank, but we're on the centerline. 46% odds of a 'hit'. I will very likely skip this one because I've got a big triathlon race early the next morning. Results: Kirk drove to the Eco preserve to try it. Lost in the noise.
MyFlex Events: Aug 22-Aug 26 but saving Thur for services for John-Vincent
Sept 7 Wed 1:58am, Good occn of 12.1 star by 1999RV199, from Locatelli Meadow or Waddell Beach. Results: I could not afford a lost night's sleep and bailed, but Kirk did go for it, at Locatelli Meadow, but technical problems with the power prevented getting data.
Sept 7 Wed 4:04am - Occultation of 12.7 by Sthenelos, from Santa Cruz south. 53% odds from Cabrillo Observatory (sleep over?, then Astro 3?). 43% from home. Karl's place has 36% odds. Unlikely I'll try this. I need rest before GraniteMan Challenge. 4am is not good. Planning and Results Page Results: Kirk got a good solid positive, I got sleep.
Sept 7 Wed 9:04pm - Occultation of a 13.8 star by Brangane, from NW of Santa Cruz. 77% odds at Waddell Beach where I claimed a spot. 24 degrees up, in Sagittarius. I've checked OW-online's SDSS map. The target looks more like magnitude 15.8 than 13.8 using C2A comparison stars. So, I'm bailing out. Results: So are the rest of the observers, after my post.
Sept 9 Fri 4:26am - Occultation of a very bright 8.4 star by Kilia. High rank, but requires drive north. Southern limit at Sunlit lane, I may be driving to June Lake right after the event, for GraniteMan if ths smoke and thunderstorm predictions relent. Otherwise, I MIGHT be tempted to try this one. Planning and Results page Results: Kirk and I both got great 1x data from Bonny Doon. Skyplane plotted
Sept 12 Monday 11:30pm - Occultation of a 12.1 star by Uranus. Might be able to get epsilon ring occultation, which will be 3/4 hour before/after central event time for planet. Remove f/3.3 or f/6.3 reducers to improve pixel scale. Still, the epsilon ring is only 2" from the center of the planet so it will take excellent seeing to resolve it. High integration will likely blur the planet over the target. This is just 1 hr after my Astro 8A class ends, so maybe head up to Rodeo Gulch to try it? Look at past high integration events and see what the seeing disk is for 5th magnitude objects, although Uranus itself is 3" across. 11:32:30pm is predicted time for the Epsilon Ring, after it emerges from reappearance from Uranus. Altitude is 20.5 degrees in the northeast, in western Taurus. With no f/3.3, our Watec 910hx should give 4 pixels of separation from the star/epsilon ring and the surface of Uranus. Not much, especially if we need any integration like 4x to see the star well enough. Results: Clouded out. No observations.
Sept 13 Tue eve 8:32pm - Occultation of 13.7 by Bredichina, 22 alt Sagittarius, from Aptos. Try this from Cabrillo Observatory with Ay8 class. Drop is only 0.5, but 9s duration so long integrations might get it. Results: Kirk got a positive, from home. I was too busy at Cabrillo Observatory on our first clear clean night, and got no observations. The 15.0 star also did not seem to warrant a big effort. Planning and Results Page. Results: Kirk got a positive, barely passing 'false positive' event. We'll see if it passes the auditors.
Sept 14 Wed eve 9:55pm - Occultation of a 12.5 by Nephthys, 0.5 drop 19 alt 2.7s duration, moon on horizon. Best odds at Natural Bridges on West Cliff 83%, else south of Freedom for higher odds. But from Natural Bridges it will be brief and maybe not significant enough for redbar test. 19 altitude will create scintillation. Planning and Results page. Results: My recording from West Cliff is consistent with a miss. Kirk initial report is also a miss, from his home a couple miles closer to the northern limit.
Sept 16 Fri 10:10pm - Occultation of a 13.6 by Brangane - 50% odds from home, but 80% odds from Dave and Diane's. Maybe invite yourself over? Actually, the target star is 14.0 and the altitude is only 17 degrees and the interval is short. I think it may just be too tough to make a big effort for. Results: Kirk did try from home. Got data but no hint of an occultation, and failed detectability anyway. File as "no observation".
Sept 17 Sat 8:12pm - Occultation of a 10.7 by 1999CF22, but odds only 15% on this low rank event from home or elsewhere. But two other observers so maybe give it a try. Rain threatens, however. Results: Clouded out.
Sep 23-25 - Fri-Sunday - Astro 25 field astro class, location - Stanislaus River
Sept 26 - Mon morn 2:40am - Occultation of 12.2 star by Prymno, full drop, 1.7s duration, from home but 13 alt in NE in Gemini/Cancer, after return from A25. Too low from home, try from nearby with good Eastern horizon. Planning Page Results: Kirk and I skipped it, due to fog and need for sleep after Astro 25, Karl successfully got the occultation from near home. IOTA Report sent Oct 6.
Oct 1 - Sat 10:25pm - Occn of 11.8 by Industria, from Locatelli Meadow or up the coast. Good high rank bright event. Planning page. There's two more events from Coalinga Road just south of Laguna Mtn, if you want to do a Sunday run to the waterfall? But very tough to get Industria too and still get any sleep Saturday night. Results: Deep fog. I drove Kirk to halfway up Mt. Hamilton, only to get above the fog too late to get on-target in time. Missed it by 5 minutes. No data from Karl either.
Oct 2 Sun 12:55am - Occultation of a 15.9 star by KBO Achilles, from north/south path with western limit through Santa Cruz, and eastern limit through central valley. Try from Laguna Mtn? From up Mt. Hamilton Rd along with Industria?? It's a LuckyStar event of greater importance than usual. Planning page. Results: Kirk got data from the big bend exit halfway up the last climb to Lick Observatory, while I struggled with field ID till too late. Good conditions. We await his reductions.
Oct 4 - 9pm - Occultation of 14.3 by Bitias - from Cabrillo Observatory during Astro 8A. Worth a try but tough with 70% moon 35 degrees away. Planning page. Results: taped at Cabrillo Observatory, but too faint. Kirk from home.
Oct 4 - Tue 10:22pm - Occultation of 12.8 combined (0.3 drop) by Arethusa. 43 alt, star =14.4, do-able from Cabrillo Observatory, 66% moon 22 deg away. Planning page. Results: Taped at Cabrillo Observatory. Kirk from home. The occultation is evident in the data, but does not pass the FP test, so regardless, it will be rejected onto the cutting room floor.
Oct 13 Thur - 8pm Occultation of 13.6 star by Lykaon, from up Empire Grade. I selected Locatelli Meadow. full drop, but only 16 degrees altitude in Sagittarius. 2.4s duration. Planning page. Results: Good success - Kirk and I both got solid occultations passing the FP test, and there was one other chord, so it should give a great astrometry solution.
Oct 29 Sat 1:52am Occultation of 13.0 by Korczak from Santa Cruz. It looks like I'll be in Big Sur, but it's a good opportunity for Kirk and Karl. Planning Page Results: I was unable to observe, being at the UCSC Big Creek reserve in Big Sur for an EFI gathering. Kirk got a solid occultation. Karl got home from a class he gave at Lick Observatory too late to set up.
Nov 11-13 - Trip to Mojave Desert National Preserve to join the high-value Didymos Occultation team. The event is Nov 12 at 2:09:17 am Saturday. The plan is to stay overnight Friday and Saturday and drive back early on Sunday. We'll get photos, video, and document the trip so I can relay the experience of the science data-gathering to my Astro 8A students. It's a little more than 7 hr drive each way. Planning page. Results: I got a 0.26s solid positive from track 1E. Kirk had power cable trouble with scope, no data.
Nov 13 Sun 12:31am - Occultation of 12.1 by Pippa, high rank and we're on the centerline in Santa Cruz. 19 alt, Az 82 in Cancer. 4.8s duration. Planning page Results: Kirk and I were clouded out from Nees Rd on I-5, while Karl was clouded out from home.
Nov 16 Wed eve 10:37pm - Occultation of a 12.7 by the asteroid van de Kamp, from Bonny Doon. Alt=65, Az=154, in Aries just 2 degrees from Uranus. Planning page Results: Kirk and I both got good recordings, of a miss. I was at the centerline at Sunlit Lane, Kirk was a few miles further south. Karl got clouded out.
Nov 29 Tue 4:29am - Occultation of a 14.1 star by America, from home. 21 alt at 117 Az in Virgo. 1.1s duration. Full drop. Results: Kirk tried it from home, looks like a miss, or a very short event but too short to pass false positive test.
Nov 30 Wed 12:43am - Occultation of a 13.4 by Arabis, from home. 40% odds. 83 deg altitude in Auriga, 3.2s duration but only 0.3 mag drop. Worth a try from home. Planning page Results: I could not ID the star field, Note now that to get the camera and chart to orient correctly, the video BNC connector on the Watec must be rotated in the 1.25"/2" adapter so the BNC connector is DOWN, closest to the base, and not "up", as it was for me during this event.
Nov 30 Wed eve 8:27pm - Occultation of an 11.6 star by Janice. 14 deg altitude at Az=71. Good high rank event. Get from Moss Landing or a bit south, if skies are clear. Iffy with storm coming in. Planning Page Results: Kirk and I set up a few miles apart south of Moss Landing and west of Castroville for me. Both had confirmed misses.
Dec 19 Mon 1:51am - Occultation of 12.2 by Schweikarda, from centerline, at home, where odds are 50%, and then, just 1 hour later, is another event worth a try. Results: A good recording of a miss. IOTA report 12/20/22 and re-sent 4/26/23; Planning page
Dec 19 Mon 2:43am - Occultation of 13.3 star by Fredtreasure, from home. Odds 29%, alt=70 deg. Planning page. Results: Kirk and I both successful misses. I reported mine to IOTA 4/2723.
Dec 21 Wed 8:21pm - Occultation of 13.6 star by Arsinoe. Very tough - only 0.2 drop for <7.5s . From home with high odds. Results: Weather too murky, Kirk tried but a single drip failed FP test.
Dec 23 Fri 7:02pm - Occultation of 13.1 by Delportia. 34 alt, from home. But only 0.8s duration, 1.7m drop. From BD at Sunlit Lane on centerline. Results: Forgot key recording element, and had to do it visually. I got a miss, reported. But an event of 0.1 or 0.2s could have been missed.
