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Terry's Occultation Page
Greeting from West Palm Beach
My best pick for the month is when (1114) Lorraine occults TYC 0745-00708-1 at 6:09 AM on the Thursday, September 2, 2010. This may appear to be short notice. However, it will occur the day after the September meeting and was included in last month's column. This is a 10.3 magnitude event and viewable from within city limits. Currently I am the southern most station. It would be excellent if we could have several more stations north of my position to provide a higher probability of success. The ideal location would be anywhere from Jupiter north to Fort Pierce. The rank for this event is 64%.  (Click to enlarge image) Observing sites near Jensen Beach and Hope Sound would be ideal. If you have an interest in participating in this observation, please let me know.  (Click to enlarge image) Several more asteroid occultations present themselves this month. However, none of them will be as bright as the September 2 event. September 3 at 5:28 AM (683) Lanzia occults TYC 1871-00156-1 with the centerline near Pampano Beach. The event is ranked 74%. If anyone has an interest in attempting this event, please let me know. Lunar Graze:There is one graze in our area. The centerline for the graze of SAO76810 on September 29, 2010 at 10:48:42 UT (6:48 AM) passes just south of Pampano Beach with the moon at an altitude of 77 degrees at dawn. Weather permitting I am considering setting up for this event at 5 AM.
 (Click to enlarge image) The is a Magnitude 7.6 [Red = 7.3] star and if the sky is clear this should be an easy graze with a modest telescope. Contact me if you have an interest in doing a graze in our area. If you have an interest in traveling to participate in a graze please visit http://www.timerson.net/IOTA/ to see what is available in the US this month. For those with an interest in chasing shadows there is an entire community of amateur and professional astronomers that daily coordinate worldwide to observe and report on occultations. The International Occultation and Timing Association (IOTA), where you can learn more about them, can be found here: http://www.occultations.org/. Two resources readily available to those in the Palm Beaches are the web pages maintained here: http://www.poyntsource.com/New/Regions/Redding.htm, and here: http://www.hristopavlov.net/OccultWatcher/OccultWatcher.html. The first is a website updated each month by Derek Briet for amateur astronomers in the Palm Beaches. He lists future asteroid and lunar events. His web products are created with Occult v4. The second website is the home of Occult Watcher. This program is the one I use to create a list of potential occultations and mutual events that can be observed from my location, or near my location. It is a very easy to use program that has become essential for those wishing to chase shadows and coordinate their efforts with the larger community of observers. If you have an interest in occultations, and would like help getting started, please feel free to contact me. Now lets chase some shadows. Terry - W6LMJ - 14.287 Terrence R. Redding, Ph.D. Redding Observatory South, West Palm Beach, Florida How do amateur astronomers learn? This research supported by Redding College of Palm Beach American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO): RTN http://www.aavso.org/
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