THE UPDATED PATH

On the evening of 2003 Apr 9 UT (before dawn on the 10th), the 69 km diameter asteroid (693) Zerbinetta will occult a 11.8 mag star in the constellation Virgo for observers along a path across southern Australia.

In the case of an occultation, the combined light of the asteroid and the star will drop by 2.0 mag to 13.6 mag (the magnitude of the asteroid) for at most 5.5 seconds.

EVENT DETAILS SUMMARY :

• Date and approx. UT time of event : 2003 Apr 09, 18:08 - 2003 Apr 09, 18:11 UT
  (Refer to map for your own location)
• Magnitude of target star : 11.84
• Magnitude drop [mag] : 2.0
• Estimated maximum duration [s] : 5.5
• Phase of moon, angular distance : 48 % sunlit, 79° distance
• Rough path description : Southern Australia

• Approximate projected width [km] : 90
• Uncertainty interval [path widths] : +/- 2
• Uncertainty ellipse (major, minor, PA) : ( .062", .063")
• Remarks :

• Name : TYC 5519-00881-1
• Constellation : Corvus
• J2000 position [h,m,s ; °,',"]: RA: 12 06 58.848 DE: -7 57 08.42
• Position source : Tycho-2
• V mag [mag] : 11.84
• Remarks : (none)

• Number, name : (693) Zerbinetta
• Approx. diameter [km] : 69.1
• Approx. diameter [arcsec] : .05
• Remarks :
• Update computed by : Jan Manek, Stefanik Observatory, Prague, Czech Republic

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.