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Updated: 2008 JAN 17, 18:16 UT
Event Rank : 89
(The event Rank is a measure of the likelihood of observing an event, and is equal to the probability of at least one successful observation by a team of two observers spaced 1/8 path width just inside opposite sides of the predicted path. An event rank of 100 indicates that the prediction is expected to be very accurate).
THE UPDATED PATH
Note: The duration given in the line below is the interval during which the occultation shadow sweeps across the Earth - please see the minute markers on the map to determine the approximate time for your location.
On 2008 Feb 01 UT, the 57 km diameter asteroid (255) Oppavia will occult a 10.4 mag star in the constellation Auriga for observers along a path beginning over Papua New Guinea passing between Madang and Lae. The path then moves into Australia passing near Katherine and the Northern Territory. Then into Western Australia passing near Ord River, Halls Creek, Meekatharra over Geraldton and Dongara.
In the case of an occultation, the combined light of the asteroid and the star will drop by 3.9 mag to 14.3 mag (the magnitude of the asteroid) for at most 6.8 seconds.
This update is based on UNSO/Flagstaff astrometry for the asteroid kindly provided by Alice Monet, TMO astrometry for the asteroid kindly provided by Bill Owen, historical astrometry from the MPC files (via AstDys), and the following catalogs for the star position: UCAC.
Additional details of this and other events are available at Steve Preston's website at http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/
EVENT DETAILS SUMMARY :Important Note regarding Accuracy:
The uncertainty interval in path widths given above (and shown as a 1-sigma uncertainty ellipse on the plot) refers to RMS deviation and is applied as a +/- range. In other words, a path uncertainty of 1.0 path widths means that the actual center of the asteroid's shadow path should fall within plus or minus 1 path width of the plotted path center. However path errors larger than 1 sigma have been observed so observers should be alert for primary occultations within plus or minus 3 sigma of the updated path.
Further, almost all asteroidal satellites discovered so far have been found within 10 diameters of the asteroid (since this distance is deep enough within the gravitational well to be stable over long timescales). Therefore, if monitoring for secondary events, observing out to about 10 path-widths either side of the predicted track remains worthwhile.
We therefore recommend that you monitor for events if your observing location is up to +/- 10 path-widths from the predicted track. If not monitoring for occultations by secondary bodies you should observe from locations within 3 sigma of the nominal path.
In terms of time, the predictions are now usually accurate to about +/- 0.3 minute so you should be most attentive during the predicted minute of the event. However if intending to catch a potential satellite occultation you should start observing at least 10 times the predicted central duration before the predicted closest approach time for your location, and continue for a similar period afterwards.
Centre Star Star Sun Path Limits Error Limits
E. Longitude Latitude U.T. Alt Az Alt Limit 1 Limit 2 Limit 3 Limit 4
o ' " o ' " h m s o o o o ' " o ' " o ' " o ' "
Longitude Longitude Longitude Longitude
111 51 41 -32 0 0 12 11 12 13 30 -8 111 20 5 112 23 25 110 45 30 112 58 30
112 52 47 -31 0 0 12 11 7 14 29 -9 112 21 14 113 24 29 111 46 42 113 59 31
113 54 36 -30 0 0 12 11 1 15 29 -10 113 23 4 114 26 17 112 48 34 115 1 18
114 57 11 -29 0 0 12 10 55 17 28 -12 114 25 40 115 28 53 113 51 9 116 3 56
116 0 38 -28 0 0 12 10 48 18 27 -13 115 29 4 116 32 22 114 54 32 117 7 29
117 5 1 -27 0 0 12 10 41 19 27 -14 116 33 23 117 36 50 115 58 47 118 12 1
118 10 25 -26 0 0 12 10 33 20 26 -15 117 38 41 118 42 20 117 3 59 119 17 39
119 16 55 -25 0 0 12 10 24 22 25 -17 118 45 4 119 48 58 118 10 14 120 24 27
120 24 38 -24 0 0 12 10 15 23 25 -18 119 52 36 120 56 51 119 17 36 121 32 32
121 33 38 -23 0 0 12 10 5 24 24 -20 121 1 25 122 6 3 120 26 12 122 41 59
122 44 2 -22 0 0 12 9 55 26 23 -21 122 11 35 123 16 43 121 36 8 123 52 55
123 55 59 -21 0 0 12 9 43 27 23 -22 123 23 15 124 28 57 122 47 30 125 5 29
125 9 34 -20 0 0 12 9 31 28 22 -24 124 36 31 125 42 53 124 0 26 126 19 49
126 24 58 -19 0 0 12 9 19 30 21 -25 125 51 32 126 58 40 125 15 4 127 36 3
127 42 20 -18 0 0 12 9 5 31 20 -27 127 8 28 128 16 28 126 31 33 128 54 22
129 1 50 -17 0 0 12 8 51 33 20 -28 128 27 29 129 36 29 127 50 3 130 14 58
130 23 40 -16 0 0 12 8 36 34 19 -30 129 48 46 130 58 54 129 10 45 131 38 3
131 48 5 -15 0 0 12 8 20 35 18 -32 131 12 33 132 23 58 130 33 51 133 3 52
133 15 19 -14 0 0 12 8 3 37 17 -33 132 39 4 133 51 57 131 59 37 134 32 44
134 45 41 -13 0 0 12 7 45 38 15 -35 134 8 37 135 23 11 133 28 18 136 4 57
136 19 33 -12 0 0 12 7 27 39 14 -37 135 41 32 136 58 2 135 0 14 137 40 56
137 57 18 -11 0 0 12 7 7 41 13 -39 137 18 13 138 36 56 136 35 46 139 21 9
139 39 29 -10 0 0 12 6 45 42 11 -40 138 59 8 140 20 25 138 15 23 141 6 10
141 26 40 - 9 0 0 12 6 23 43 10 -42 140 44 51 142 9 10 139 59 35 142 56 43
143 19 40 - 8 0 0 12 5 58 44 8 -44 142 36 7 144 3 59 141 49 4 144 53 42
145 19 25 - 7 0 0 12 5 33 46 6 -46 144 33 48 146 5 56 143 44 37 146 58 15
147 27 12 - 6 0 0 12 5 5 47 4 -49 146 39 4 148 16 26 145 47 19 149 11 58
Latitude Latitude Latitude Latitude
148 0 0 - 5 45 16 12 4 58 47 3 -49 - 5 23 20 - 6 7 19 - 4 59 22 - 6 31 44
149 0 0 - 5 19 0 12 4 45 48 2 -50 - 4 57 13 - 5 40 56 - 4 33 23 - 6 5 11
150 0 0 - 4 53 38 12 4 31 48 1 -51 - 4 31 58 - 5 15 26 - 4 8 17 - 5 39 33
151 0 0 - 4 29 10 12 4 18 48 360 -52 - 4 7 37 - 4 50 50 - 3 44 3 - 5 14 49
152 0 0 - 4 5 35 12 4 5 49 359 -53 - 3 44 9 - 4 27 8 - 3 20 43 - 4 50 58
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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