Backyard Occultation

Terrence R. Redding, Ph.D. RTN - February, 2009

I am attempting this evening (Jan. 23, 2009) at 8:55 PM, here in West Palm Beach, Florida. The centerline of the event passes through Costa Rica, across western Cuba, through the coastal area of North Carolina, across eastern New York, Connecticut. New Hampshire, Maine, and eastern Canada, east of Quebec.

Detailed information for the event can be found here: www.asteroidoccultation.com

Event Notes:I recorded an hour of video, 30 minutes either side of this odd event. I got a bit excited 15 minutes after the event to see the star disappear only to look from the monitor to the sky and see clouds moving across the target area. I believe I had a clean miss.

This has been the best event yet for the backyard observatory. I finally got an excellent polar alignment and was able to use the GOTO feature to move around the night sky and every target popped into view nearly centered in the 902H2 Ultimate camera on my monitor.

A very nice experience. I still need to attach a second scope to the 14" LX200R. I have a Astro-Tech 111 mm APO, a Vixen ED80sf mm, and a Astro-Tech 66 mm APO. I believe the Vixen produces the widest field of view. I have the Losmandy rail on the top of the scope and the mounting rings. But I still need a weight system for balancing the scope. I will be adding AAVSO work to the occultation effort - as I move towards being able to do exoplanet work, all recommendations on how to proceed will be appreciated.

Summary ------- On 2009 Jan 24 UT, the 63 km diameter asteroid (607) Jenny will occult a 12.1 mag star in the constellation Taurus for observers along a path across E Canada, E USA, Caribbean, Central America. In the case of an occultation, the combined light of the asteroid and the star will drop by 2.6 mag to 14.6 mag (the magnitude of the asteroid) for at most 13.5 seconds.