A greater than 40.9 sec occultaion was observed By John Broughton at Reedy Creek, QLD.
View the updated prediction.
Observers: 1 J. Broughton, Reedy Creek, QLD, Australia 2 Pedicted
Discussion:
The circle above is plotted at the expected 158km diameter of Chicago. With only one chord it is not possible to say which side of John's location the central path was, but his partial chord is much longer than expected for the diameter of a round object.
The figures below shows the drift-scan image of the occultation.
Observational Data:
Observer's Name : John Broughton TELESCOPE DETAILS: Aperture (cm) : 25.4 Focal length (cm) : 169 Type (e.g. SCT; Newtonian) : SCT Magnification : CCD drift-scan at 5 pps, 50'FOV Observing site name : Reedy Creek, Gold Coast Longitude (East +ve) : +153 23' 49" Latitude (South -ve) : -28 06' 36" Height above Sealevel (metres) : 66 Geodetic Datum (e.g.WDD84,NZ1949): AGD66 Sky Transparency (Delete two) : Good Star Image Stability (Delete two): Poor due to wind. Other Conditions: (Wind, Clouds, Lights, etc.): Low altitude TIMINGS: (PLEASE REPORT IN UNIVERSAL TIME) Time Source (e.g. WWV, VNG) : WWVH. Recording method (e.g. tape) : Tape. Could you see the Asteroid? : Only combined light monitored. Approx. Limiting Magnitude : 12.5 | Estimated | Universal Time | Reaction | Accuracy, Remarks h m s | Time (sec) | COLUMN FORMAT TO USE---> __:__:__._ _._ _________________) Disappearance At : not recorded Started Observing : 13:19:28.85 n/a 0.01 Reappearance At : 13:20:09.78 n/a 0.1 Stopped Observing : 13:21:09.66 n/a 0.01 Duration : >=40.9 ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Drift scan recorded indoors through a SCT manually aligned on the previous night with the aid of the altazimuth mode of ScanTracker. As I was getting acceptable images, it was convenient to aim the telescope through a fixed window rather than spend hours relocating everything. I was mindful not to take a maximum-length exposure due to the low elevation. At low elevation in populated areas you lose limiting magnitude not only from extinction but also from an increase in skyglow. A 90-second test exposure indicated a limiting magnitude only 1 magnitude fainter than the star. For the occultation I chose an exposure of 100 seconds which represented double the uncertainty plus the maximum duration. Despite this, the image shows the occultation was already underway at the beginning of the exposure. The attached image is centred on reappearance and the visible trail to the left of reappearance actually represents an unrelated 12.0-magnitude star. What duration I did record lasted 9.8 seconds longer than the maximum predicted, indicating the planetoid has a long axis of at least 198km.
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