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(meteorobs) Eclipse meteors & grazes; Fri. night Ursula TX - VA
1. Lunar meteor impact flashes during the lunar eclipse.
2. Good grazes during the eclipse, L.A. to Virginia, some not in IOTA data.
3. Ursula occultation Fri. night shifts well north, Texas to Virginia
4. Early Lydina update, Feb. 2, indicates San Antonio to L.A.
David Dunham, IOTA, 2000 Jan. 20
____________________________________________________________________________
If you are not swamped with publicity efforts, there are a couple of useful
research projects that can be done during the total lunar eclipse:
1. The darkened Moon provides a good opportunity to use large telescopes
to try to record faint lunar meteor impact flashes. The best areas to
image are the advancing (eastern, astronomical sense - Oceanus Procellarum)
edge of the Moon where meteors will generally strike with larger velocity
and hence give brighter flashes, and the core of the umbra, where fainter
flashes can be detected. The eclipsed Moon is red, which makes it brighter
with most red-sensitive CCD video cameras, so that works against detection,
but does bring out lunar features for locating any flashes that might
be recorded.
____________________________________________________________________________
2. Occultations during the eclipse - see pages 112 and 113 of the
January issue of Sky and Telescope (that is probably also online at
http://www.skypub.com - look under "Sights"). Predictions for some
grazes were included in the IOTA distribution, the best in the USA
being one of 8.4-mag. SAO 97665 whose northern limit passes over
the Los Angeles area and east into Arizona and northern New Mexico,
where the end of the eclipse starts interfering. Also, southern-
limit grazes of VV Cancri will be visible from n. New Mexico to
Virginia, and of SAO 97632 from Texas to s. Georgia - see below.
It looks like southern Calif. will be clouded out (mostly), while
it should be mostly clear in the south-central and southeastern
parts of the USA. In Virginia, Thursday's storm should pass out
to sea, leaving clear skies for the eclipse, but I do not plan to
lead DC-area observers to Richmond for the VV Cnc graze. Detailed
path data for the 3 grazes mentioned above, at 0.125-deg. intervals,
will be placed on IOTA's Web site at http://www.lunar-occultations.com
perhaps by about 0h UT Jan. 21. A little more info. about these
grazes, with limit data at 2-deg. intervals, is below:
a. SAO 97665:
This is the best graze in the U.S.A. during the total lunar
eclipse, with the northern limit graze zone passing over the Los
Angeles area (near LAX, Whittier, and San Bernardino) and on east to
near Sedona, Arizona.
EVENT: JAN. 21, 2000 STAR: MOON: 0% SUNLIT,ECLIPSE
NORTHERN LIMIT GRAZE HIP 40327, MAG. 8.4 PHASE-ANGLE: 179.6
DELTAT: 64.12 SEC. USNO X 12440 SAO 97665 SPEC. K0
STAR IS DOUBLE.PRIMARY MAG. 9.2
STAR-CODE X, SECONDARY MAG. 9.2, SEP. 0.10 SEC.OF ARC AT POS.ANGLE 272 DEG
EAST LONG. NORTH LAT. UNIVERS.TIME MOON MOON SUN POS.ANGLE UMBRAL
DEG. MIN. DEG. MIN. HR MIN SEC ALT. AZI. TANZ ALT. OF GRAZE DIST.
-118 0.0 33 57.09 5 8 15.5 48.1 98.2 0.90 -49.0 3.49 0.531
-116 0.0 34 16.54 5 11 5.6 50.3 100.5 0.83 -51.2 3.89 0.502
-112 0.0 34 48.69 5 17 2.9 54.6 105.7 0.71 -55.4 4.74 0.439
-111 0.0 34 55.27 5 18 35.5 55.6 107.1 0.68 -56.5 4.96 0.422
GEODETIC DATUM USED: NORTH AMERICAN 1927 (USA) STAR CATALOG: XZ80P
PREDICTION GRAZEREG-VER. 2000 BY IOTA/ES, E. RIEDEL, AND David Dunham, IOTA
RESULT OF OBSERVER SCAN
CITY COUNTRY E.LONG. N.LAT. OBSERVER/STATION DISTANCE, UT CLOSEST
LosAlams NM -106.267 35.886 Gene Mroz 40 MI. UT 5.4379
Flagstaf AZ -111.745 35.190 Fried,Hobart,&Sudol xx 24 MI. UT 5.2921
Prescott AZ -112.390 34.551 Fulton Wright, Jr. 15 MI. UT 5.2733
Riversid CA -117.350 33.983 Wilcox, Cheryl RAS&Axx 5.3 MI. UT 5.1524
Pomona CA -117.816 34.063 Alesofia xx 5.4 MI. UT 5.1424
LakeWood CA -118.125 33.835 D. P. WERNER 6.5 MI. UT 5.1343
TORRANCE CA -118.313 33.815 J. Collins zz 5.6 MI. UT 5.1299
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
b. Limit data are given below for the southern-limit grazes during the
total lunar eclipse of VV Cancri (SAO 97631, expected mag. 9.5) visible
from northern New Mexico, across Kansas (well s. of Kansas City) and
Missouri (s. of St. Louis), near Louisville, KY and Richmond, VA, and of
8.5-mag. SAO 97631 visible from n. of Austin and Houston, TX, near Baton
Rouge, LA, and over southernmost Georgia just north of Jacksonville, FL.
These grazes were not in the standard IOTA predictions. The Occult
profile indicates that the best range for observers will be from the
southern limit lines to about 1.5 miles north of them.
Grazing Occultation of SAO 97631 (VV Cancri), sp. M5, Mag 9.5
Friday 2000 January 21
Umbral %
Longitude Latitude UT Alt Az TanZ PA WA Dist.
Sunlit
o o ' h m s Sn Mn o o o
-110.0000 +35 38.28 4 01 19 41 95 1.15 182.5 168.74 94.00U 2E
-108.0000 +36 2.73 4 04 08 43 97 1.07 182.8 169.05 92.00U 0E
-106.0000 +36 25.25 4 07 05 45 99 0.99 183.1 169.39 90.00U 0E
-104.0000 +36 45.73 4 10 10 47 102 0.92 183.5 169.76 88.00U 0E
-102.0000 +37 4.12 4 13 22 50 104 0.85 183.9 170.14 86.00U 0E
-100.0000 +37 20.30 4 16 41 52 107 0.79 184.3 170.54 84.00U 0E
-98.0000 +37 34.22 4 20 08 54 110 0.73 184.7 170.96 83.00U 0E
-96.0000 +37 45.80 4 23 41 56 113 0.68 185.2 171.40 81.00U 0E
-94.0000 +37 54.98 4 27 21 58 117 0.63 185.6 171.86 80.00U 0E
-92.0000 +38 1.70 4 31 07 60 121 0.58 186.1 172.34 79.00U 0E
-90.0000 +38 5.87 4 34 59 62 125 0.54 186.6 172.83 78.00U 0E
-88.0000 +38 7.45 4 38 58 64 130 0.50 187.1 173.33 78.00U 0E
-86.0000 +38 6.37 4 43 02 65 135 0.46 187.6 173.85 77.00U 0E
-84.0000 +38 2.57 4 47 12 67 141 0.43 188.1 174.39 77.00U 0E
-82.0000 +37 56.00 4 51 27 68 147 0.40 188.7 174.92 78.00U 0E
-80.0000 +37 46.60 4 55 46 70 154 0.37 189.2 175.46 78.00U 0E
-78.0000 +37 34.33 5 00 10 71 163 0.35 189.8 176.01 79.00U 0E
-76.0000 +37 19.13 5 04 38 72 172 0.33 190.3 176.56 81.00U 0E
97631 = Vv CNC, 10.50 to 11.50P (brighter in V), Var Type LB
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
c. Grazing Occultation of SAO 97632, sp. F5, Mag. 9.1
Friday 2000 January 21
Nominal Site Altitude 0 m
Longitude Latitude UT Alt Az TanZ PA WA Umbral %
o ' '' o ' '' h m s Sn Mn o o o Dist.
Sunlit
-100.0000 +30 8.33 4 13 03 52 97 0.77 183.8 170.01 86.00U 0E
-98.0000 +30 24.38 4 16 51 55 100 0.70 184.3 170.50 84.00U 0E
-96.0000 +30 37.87 4 20 48 57 102 0.64 184.8 171.00 82.00U 0E
-94.0000 +30 48.67 4 24 54 60 105 0.58 185.3 171.53 81.00U 0E
-92.0000 +30 56.68 4 29 09 62 108 0.52 185.9 172.09 79.00U 0E
-90.0000 +31 1.80 4 33 33 65 112 0.47 186.4 172.67 78.00U 0E
-88.0000 +31 3.93 4 38 05 67 116 0.42 187.0 173.27 77.00U 0E
-86.0000 +31 2.98 4 42 44 70 121 0.37 187.7 173.89 77.00U 0E
-84.0000 +30 58.88 4 47 31 72 127 0.33 188.3 174.52 77.00U 0E
-82.0000 +30 51.53 4 52 24 74 134 0.28 188.9 175.17 78.00U 0E
-80.0000 +30 40.88 4 57 23 76 143 0.25 189.6 175.82 78.00U 0E
-79.0000 +30 34.30 4 59 54 77 149 0.23 189.9 176.15 79.00U 0E
97632 is a Double Star: 9.4 & 12.5, Sepn 3.71, PA 314
Graze Path of Secondary 4.19km S, and 7.7 secs. earlier cf. primary.
____________________________________________________________________________
From: Jan Manek <jmanek@mbox.vol.cz>
IOTA/IOTA-ES occultation update for
(375) Ursula / TYC 2902 02681 1 event on 2000, January 21/22
visible from SE USA and north Mexico
The event occurs late Friday night, actually very early Saturday morning
Summary
In the night of January 21/22, 2000 will be occulted faint 11.0 mag star
TYC 2902 02681 1 by a 216km asteroid (375) Ursula. This update is based
on USNO/Flagstaff and TMO astrometry for asteroid and ACT star position.
This calculation gives large ~3 path width north shift with occultation
time ~1.5 minutes earlier compared to Edwin Goffin's nominal prediction
and Sky&Tel (February, p. 101) path.
Path for this event runs over south Virginia with Norfolk in path at
~06:03.5 UT (1:03 am EST Jan. 22), most of North Carolina ~06:04 UT,
most of Tennessee (SE), NW of South Carolina and north Georgia ~06:04.5 UT,
north Alabama ~06:05 UT, north Mississippi and SE Arkansas ~06:05.5 UT,
north Louisiana ~06:06 UT and finally Texas from NE to SW ~06:07 UT.
NW Mexico is in path around 06:08 UT. Within the 1 path width error are
other areas, consult the updated path map in the asteroidal occultation
section of http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota
Brightness drop is expected to be 1.9 magnitudes, large enough for
visual observation; a central occultation is expected to last 22 seconds.
The occultation path:
* approximate width [km]: 250
* uncertainty [path widths]: 1
* uncertainty in time [s]: 25
Data for the target star:
* name: TYC 2902 02681 1
* constellation: Auriga
* J2000 position [h,m,s; o,',"]: 04h 59m 12.765s; +41o 57' 21.14"
See the web site mentioned above for finder charts.
* position source: ACT
* estimated accuracy ["]: 0.05" (0.03", 0.04")
* Johnson V mag [mag]: 10.97
* B-V [mag]: +0.08
* remarks: TYCHO gives quality flag 4(=high) with 'no investigation
for duplicity' flag.
Target star is in western Auriga, close to border with Perseus. There
is 3.8 mag star zeta Aurigae ~1.1 degrees SE of target and 6.7 mag star
SAO 39921 only about 7.5' SE of target. Be careful - target star is the
easternmost and faintest in a line of three stars (9.5, 10.2, 11.0 mag).
Centerline path coordinates:
Altitude
E. Longitude Latitude U.T. star sun
........ shortened ..........................
- 75 00 00 + 36 19 45 6 03 28 43 -70
- 77 00 00 + 36 10 56 6 03 42 44 -71
- 79 00 00 + 35 58 44 6 03 56 45 -72
- 81 00 00 + 35 43 04 6 04 11 46 -73
- 83 00 00 + 35 23 53 6 04 26 48 -74
- 85 00 00 + 35 01 07 6 04 42 49 -74
- 87 00 00 + 34 34 39 6 04 59 50 -75
- 89 00 00 + 34 04 21 6 05 16 51 -76
- 91 00 00 + 33 30 07 6 05 33 53 -76
- 93 00 00 + 32 51 46 6 05 51 54 -76
- 95 00 00 + 32 09 07 6 06 10 55 -76
- 97 00 00 + 31 21 58 6 06 29 56 -76
- 99 00 00 + 30 30 05 6 06 50 57 -76
-101 00 00 + 29 33 13 6 07 11 58 -75
-103 00 00 + 28 31 03 6 07 32 59 -75
-105 00 00 + 27 23 17 6 07 55 59 -74
-107 00 00 + 26 09 32 6 08 18 60 -72
-109 00 00 + 24 49 23 6 08 43 60 -71
-111 00 00 + 23 22 24 6 09 09 60 -70
........ shortened ..........................
Calculator: Jan Manek, Stefanik Observatory, Prague, Czech Republic
____________________________________________________________________________
Subject: Preliminary update (1028) Lydina/TAC+32 3139
Dear occultation observers,
I calculated a preliminary update for the (1028) Lydina/TAC +32 3139 event
on 2000 Feb 02 from the USNO data kindly made available by Ron Stone
yesterday.
There is a roughly 0.2" south shift compared to Edwin Goffin's nominal
prediction. The possible error of this preliminary update is probably
less than 0.1" north or south shift of the path (corresponding to 150 km).
I consider this event to be still of interest for observers
in the southern US and northern Mexico and suggest that observations
are continued. The event is Tues. night/Wed. morning, Feb. 1/2 local
time (2nd UT), with the path passing near or over San Antonio at 6:47
(0:47 am CST Feb. 2), Phoenix at 6:49 (11:49 pm MST Feb. 1), and
Los Angeles at 6:50 (10:50 pm PST).
Central line for an occultation by (1028) Lydina
(1028) Lydina occults TAC +32°3139 (RA 7 55 54.880 DE +32 27 54.70)
orbit from USNO positions only, star USNO (Ron Stone)
Date: 2000 Feb. 2 UT, pi=4.19", mu=25.94"/h
east
Lat. Long. hh:mm:ss UT StarAlt° StarAzi° SunAlt° SunAzi°
21.57 -78.28 6:44: 4. ! 56.7 296.7 -71.2 79.3
22.62 -80.52 6:44:24. ! 59.0 295.8 -72.9 73.9
23.61 -82.73 6:44:43. ! 61.2 294.9 -74.4 67.6
27.92 -93.71 6:46:20. ! 71.6 289.4 -78.3 21.6
28.65 -95.90 6:46:39. ! 73.6 288.0 -78.1 11.0
29.35 -98.10 6:46:59. ! 75.6 286.6 -77.6 1.0
30.01 -100.31 6:47:18. ! 77.5 285.0 -76.9 352.0
30.63 -102.54 6:47:37. ! 79.5 283.2 -75.9 344.0
31.21 -104.77 6:47:57. ! 81.4 281.0 -74.7 337.0
31.75 -107.02 6:48:16. ! 83.3 278.2 -73.4 330.9
32.26 -109.29 6:48:36. ! 85.2 274.0 -72.0 325.5
32.73 -111.57 6:48:55. ! 87.1 265.8 -70.5 320.8
33.15 -113.87 6:49:14. ! 88.7 236.9 -69.0 316.5
33.54 -116.19 6:49:34. ! 88.6 142.1 -67.3 312.7
33.89 -118.53 6:49:53. ! 86.9 116.8 -65.7 309.2
34.20 -120.89 6:50:13. ! 85.1 109.1 -64.0 306.0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Martin Federspiel, Planetarium Freiburg, Germany
E-mail: martin@astro.unibas.ch
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joan and David Dunham
7006 Megan Lane
Greenbelt, MD 20770
(301) 474-4722
dunham@erols.com
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