Date: 07 Aug 2006 19:33:58
From: SkySea
Subject: Observation (perhaps) of an occultation this AM
|
I stayed up in the hopes of catching an occultation this AM.
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2006_08/0807_356_5377.htm
This was a bit beyond the limits of my ablilites to videotape, so I
settled in to just watch. The Moon was still up but behind a house,
and a fog bank had rolled in along the southern horizon to about 10
degrees up, lit by the Moon. There was a slight haze in the sky, light
dew was forming, and the target was about 40 degrees up over downtown
Seattle (2 miles across a bay) during the predicted time of the event.
Equipment was a C14, focal reducer, and a 10mm Ploessl.
I could see the target star (m12.6) about two hours before the event,
using a 17mm Ploessl. At about the half hour countdown mark, I thought
I could see both the star and the asteroid, so I switched to the 10mm
for the rest of the session. Then I could clearly resolve the star and
asteroid (m12.8). A few minutes before the event, the two became one,
and appeared as a brighter unit. At about half a minute before, the
object appeared to get dimmer. A half minute after the predicted time,
it may have winked out and come back, but it was too brief and subtle
for me to be able to tell if it was an actual event, or just a cloud
marring the view. It was very stable after that though, so I watched
for about five minutes and then packed up. When done (3:30), the fog
bank to the south had morphed into a silhouetted cloud bank.
It was very fun to see both the asteroid and the star at the same
time. In hindsight, it would have been interesting to see how close
they got together before they could no longer be resolved, then find
out what that angular separation actually was. Something to note for
the future.
=============
- Dale Gombert (SkySea at aol.com)
122.38W, 47.58N, W. Seattle, WA
http://flavorj.com/~skysea
|
