THE UPDATED PATH
This update has moved the path southeast by around 1.5 path widths relative to that given by Occult and around 10 seconds earlier. The path crosses the southern Coral Sea to the northern New South Wales coastline in the Grafton/Port Macquarie area. (13:38:30 UT). Running on to the southwest, the path includes Tamworth, Bathurst and Albury before crossing metropolitan Melbourne at 13:39:30 UT. Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane all lie well within the error margin of this calculation and (given cooperative weather), the section has observers located such that it will be virtually impossible for the shadow to slip through this net !!
The target star is the eastern and fainter component of a pair - a magnitude 9.9 star lies 1 minute of arc to the west.
Calculation Source
This prediction update has been computed by Steve Preston of Medina, Washington (state) in the United States based on astrometry from Ron Stone of the US Naval Observatory - Flagstaff Station, USA supplemented with data from the AstDys database. The UCAC position of the target star has been used combined with Tycho 2 proper motion data.
Additional details of this and other events are available at Steve Preston's website at http://www.oz.net/~stevepr/Asteroids/asteroid.htmEVENT DETAILS SUMMARY:
IMPORTANT NOTE!
Astrometric updates such as these should not be taken as definitive, but rather only as an indication of where the true track may lie relative to the original predicted track. Observers must bear in mind that later astrometry, in which the target star is measured in the same field as the asteroid, may still reveal substantial changes to the predicted track and time of the event. For this reason it is most important that observers far from the predicted track still monitor the event.
Use these links for further information:
[Planetary Occultations]
[Using the Predictions]
[Observing Details]
[Timing Details]
[Reporting Details]
[Report Form]
[Asteroid Occultation Results]
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