The list shows occultations of possible double stars during August. Although the main emphasis remains on stars with separations < 2", now that the more detailed lunar limb profile from LOLA is available, some wider pairs are included. Doubles predicted to be occulted by the Moon during August 2018 and visible from parts of Australia or New Zealand are included. The listing is a very abbreviated version of predictions produced by Occult plus an indication of the region of visibility. Observers need to generate their own precise predictions using Occult.

The list below is generated by OCCULT for a 25cm telescope. Some of the events could be beyond the reach of smaller telescopes. Observations of all pairs in the list are highly desirable. Those showing an OCc number have been reported as non-instantaneous at a lunar occultation. Confirmation or otherwise of any double nature is wanted.

*** Kepler stars: the nights on which they are occulted are indicated. Individual Keplers are only shown if they are also a known or possible double. Light curve of occultations of all Kepler stars are desired.

Please send reports of all observations of these stars to Brian Loader at brian.loader@slingshot.co.nz, including any made in earlier months and not so far reported. And of course if you observe a stepped event for a star, which is not a known double, please report this. More details about reporting follow the predictions.

ARCHIVING OCCULTATION LIGHT CURVES

For ALL lunar occultations: single, double and Kepler K2 stars a csv file should be prepared for archiving. This can be done through the OBSERVATIONS EDITOR of OCCULT.

It will be necessary to generate a light curve using LIMOVIE and save or copy its csv file. You will also need to note the time, hh:mm:ss.sss of one frame and the corresponding frame number.

Then in the Observations Editor select the entry for the star and use the menu bar option to create a Light Curve Report. Follow the instructions on the new screen which appears. There is a help file. It is suggested that light curve reports be emailed in batches rather than singly. They are sent directly to Dave Herald from the program.

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 d P    Star  Mag    %         Double details        WDS or   Area of
Aug      No    v    ill      magnitudes sepn    PA°  OCC #    Visibility
 1 r  128631  7.8   80- : AB  7.8  9.3  7.6"  291.0  STF   8  TSCM,AkWChI
       128631:  B star is X 54701
 2 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTSCM,AkWChI
 2 r X 32772  9.1   71- : BA  9.5  6.1 16.0"   73.0  STF  84  R
   *** X 32772 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 220240741}
 2 r  109655  9.1   71- : AB  9.5 10.4  0.33" 305.3  A  2310° RB
 2 r X  1452 10.0   71- : AB 10.9 11.6  2.0"  179.5  DOO  26  RBT
   *** X  1452 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 220259962}
 2 r  109703  9.2   70- : AB  9.4 11.8  4.28"  38.6  A  2311  M
   *** 109703 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 220296220}
 3 r  110169  9.1   61- : AB  9.2 11.8  0.65"  23.8  HDS 250  ,I
 3 r  110164  8.5   61- : **  9.0  9.5  1.0"   10.0  OCc1169  ,AkWChI
 4 R     393  6.7   51- : **  7.6  7.6  0.10"  90.0  OCc1191  ,AkWChI
 4 R     401  6.3s  50- : AB  6.3  6.5        247.0  CHR 200  BTSCM,AkWChI
 4 r   93088  9.2   50- : ** 10.0 10.0  0.27"  21.0  OCc1010  RBTSCM
 5 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBT
 5 r X 66785  9.6   38- : AB 10.0 12.8  2.4"  336.1  HU 1065  RBTSCM,I
 6 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTSCM,AkWChI
 6 r   93967# 7.8   29- : AB  9.37 8.09 0.06" 241.0  COU 567  ,AkWCh
   ***  93967 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 210650598}
 6 r   93964*?9.0v  29- : **  9.9  9.9  0.40" 108.0  OCc 483  ,AkWCh
   ***  93964 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 210666330}
 6 R     684# 6.2   28- : AB  6.97 7.02 3.10" 276.0  STF 559   RBTSCM,AkWChI
   ***    684 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 247031423}
          684:  B star is X 70265       
 7 r   77296  9.6   18- : AB  9.7 12.2  0.20" 347.0  HDS 747  RBTSC,AkWChI
 8 r   78546  8.7   10- : AB  9.8  9.9  0.29"  79.7  A  2119  ,AkWCh
   ***  78546 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 202059377}
 8 r   78575  8.6   10- : **  9.7  9.7  0.10" 152.0  OCc 849  ,AkWChI
 8 r   78592  9.4   10- : ** 10.0 10.0  0.10"  90.0  OCc 316  B,Ch
 8 r   78626  8.5   10- : **  9.4  9.4  0.10"  55.0  OCc 884  R
 8 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTSCM,Ak
 9 r   79623  7.9    4- : **  8.7  8.7  0.04" 223.0  OCc1067  ,Ak
 9 r   79686  9.1    4- : AB  9.6 10.0  0.7"  139.7  HU  845  R

14 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    M
16 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTSCM,AkWChI
16 d  139656  9.8   30+ : **  9.9  9.9  0.10" 118.0  OCc 643  RBTSCM
   *** 139656 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 212770303}
16 d  139661  9.4   30+ : AB  9.1 12.0  4.2"  249.1  RST4521  RBT
16 d  139678  8.6   30+ : **  8.8  8.8  0.10"  90.0  OCc  35  RBTS
17 D    2113# 7.6   40+ : AB  7.92 9.21 0.42" 311.0  HU  141° RBTS
17 d  158854  8.9   41+ : AB  9.30 9.84 0.40" 229.2  RST3898  TSCM,AkWChI
18 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTCM,AkWChI
18 D  159415# 8.2   50+ : AB  8.78 9.09 0.027" 90.1  HDS2210  M,AkWChI
   *** 159415 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 250128530}
18 d X 39817  9.6   51+ : AB 10.4 10.6  1.4"  308.9  HLD  25  RBT
19 d  159933# 9.1   60+ : **  9.3 10.6  0.19" 265.5  OCc 518  R
19 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    SCM
20 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTCM,AkWChI
20 D    2497* 6.5   70+ : **  7.8  7.8  1.3"  105.0  OCc 529  RBTSM,Ak
   ***   2497 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 234426962}
20 d  160511  8.1   70+ : AB  8.2 10.9  0.50" 325.0  HDS2455  RBTSCM
20 d  160522* 9.0   71+ : **  9.6  9.6  2.5"   91.0  OCc1502  ,WChI
20 d  160539  8.9   71+ : AB  9.6  9.6  0.08" 311.6  RST5542  RBTSCM,AkWChI
21 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTSCM,AkWChI
21 D    2639* 6.0   79+ : Aab 6.5  6.9  0.10" 160.1  CHR 255  RBTSCM,AkW
21 D    2638  5.3   79+ : Aab 5.3  8.4        203.0  SNA  82  R
                        : AB  5.4 10.6  1.3"   78.1  TOK  59  R
                        : AC  5.2 12.9  2.3"  356.0  SNA  82  R
                        : AD  5.2 12.2  7.1"  108.0  SNA  82  R
21 d  161220  8.2   79+ : AB  8.9  9.0  0.20" 343.0  B  1883  ,WChI
21 D    2642# 7.0   79+ : AB  7.24 8.89 0.03" 138.3  MCA  51  RBTSCM
22 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTSCM,AkWChI
24 d  163811  7.3   96+ : **  7.4  9.0  0.50" 117.0  OCc 603  BTSC,AkWChI
24 d  163989  7.3   97+ : AB  6.2  9.5  1.1"  307.4  JAY   1  M
25 d  164545  8.6   99+ : AB  8.7 11.7  1.5"  107.2  VBS  34  BTSC
25 d    3177# 5.9   99+ : **  6.8  6.8  0.10"  90.0  OCc1608  ,WChI
25 D    3181# 6.0   99+ : **  6.7  6.7  0.05" 350.0  OCc1610  RBTSCM,AkWChI
                        : AB  5.4  9.5  4.3"  229.0  DRS  68  RBTSCM,AkWChI

27 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTSCM,AkWChI
28 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    ,AkW
28 r  128557  8.1   95- : AB  8.2 12.2  1.8"   55.4  RST4738  R
29 r      95  7.0   91- : Aab 7.8  7.8  0.10" 350.0  OCc  61  CM,AkWChI
29 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTSC,I
31 r     345# 7.6   76- : AB  8.03 9.20 1.55" 226.9  BU    8  ,AkWCh
31 R     368  6.2   75- : AB  6.23 9.85 1.49" 143.4  BU  518  RBTSCM
         368;  B star is X 62362

======================================================================

Visibility codes:
Australia: R Rockhampton, B Brisbane, T Tamworth, S Sydney, C Canberra, M Melbourne  

NZ (following a ,) Ak Auckland, W Wellington, Ch Christchurch, I Invercargill.
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Stars with previous occultation observations: 

#: Observations indicating double - these need further checking
*: Observations not showing double - need confirmation
!: Recent video discoveries - confirmation needed.
?: Uncertain double observation, confirmation or otherwise needed

A WDS number followed by a ° sign indicates the double has a known orbit.

==================================================================

Reporting Your Observations

The most convenient way of reporting is to use Dave Herald's OCCULT which has a Double Star report option in the Observations editor. Before using it, generate a light curve with Limovie and copy to the clip board. Your graph will be attached to the email which you can then send to brian.loader@slingshot.co.nz.

Otherwise in reporting please include your name and positional data as for other occultations reports, also your telescope type and method of observing and timekeeping.

For each event give the star name and the times of each step of the event with the corresponding accuracy. The limb PA, Rv and Cct of the event would also be useful.

In addition to measures of the PA and separation of binary stars, there is also a need for an estimate of the magnitude difference. An estimate of this can be made from the step sizes shown by Limovie data. So if possible a determination should be made of the size of each step together with an estimate of accuracy.

Please also report cases where a double event is predicted but none detected. These are especially likely with stars shown with an OCc designation

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