The list shows occultations of possible double stars during March. Although the main emphasis remains on stars with separations < 2", now that the more detailed lunar limb profile from LOLA is available, some wider pairs are included. Doubles predicted to be occulted by the Moon during March 2017 and visible from parts of Australia or New Zealand are included. The listing is a very abbreviated version of predictions produced by Occult plus an indication of the region of visibility. Observers need to generate their own precise predictions using Occult.

The list below is generated by OCCULT for a 25cm telescope. Some of the events could be beyond the reach of smaller telescopes. Observations of all pairs in the list are highly desirable. Those showing an OCc number have been reported as non-instantaneous at a lunar occultation. Confirmation or otherwise of any double nature is wanted.

*** Kepler stars: the nights on which they are occulted are indicated. Individual Keplers are only shown if they are also a known or possible double. Light curve of occultations of all Kepler stars are desired.

Please send reports of all observations of these stars to Brian Loader at palbrl@clear.net.nz, including any made in earlier months and not so far reported. And of course if you observe a stepped event for a star, which is not a known double, please report this. More details about reporting follow the predictions.

NEW - ARCHIVING OF OCCULTATION LIGHT CURVES

For ALL lunar occultations: single, double and Kepler K2 stars a csv file should be prepared for archiving. This can be done through the OBSERVATIONS EDITOR of OCCULT.

It will be necessary to generate a light curve using LIMOVIE and save or copy its csv file. You will also need to note the time, hh:mm:ss.sss of one frame and the corresponding frame number.

Then in the Observations Editor select the entry for the star and use the menu bar option to create a Light Curve Report. Follow the instructions on the new screen which appears. There is a help file. It is suggested that light curve reports be emailed in batches rather than singly. They are sent directly to Dave Herald from the program.

***********************************************************************
 d P    Star  Mag    %         Double details        WDS or   Area of
Mar      No    v    ill      magnitudes sepn    PA?  OCC #    Visibility
 1 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    BCMRS
 4 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    BCRS,AkW
 4 d   93652  9.2   37+ : **  9.6  9.6  0.05" 116.0  OCc1224  BCMRS
   *** 93652 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 210510363}
 5 d   94117  9.6   48+ : Aab 7.4  9.1  0.30" 273.0  PAT  15  ,AkW
 5 d   94120  8.5   48+ : AB  6.9 10.8  0.07" 282.9  PAT  17  ,ChW
 5 d   94132  8.1   48+ : AB  8.1 10.0  9.3"  318.0  STF 598  ,AkChW
 6 d     884* 8.4   60+ : **  8.6  8.6  0.05"  90.0  OCc1280  BCRS,AkW
 6 d X 78856 10.0   60+ :Aab 10.7 10.7  0.50" 113.0  TDS3379  R
                        : AB 10.1 12.2  7.1"  298.9  J  1919  R
     X 78856:  B star is X 78858
 6 d   95001* 8.1   61+ : **  9.1  9.1  0.10"  90.0  OCc  28  BCMS
 7 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    R
 7 d X  9794  9.6   70+ : AB  9.6 11.0  4.5"   27.8  BRT2361  C,AkW
 7 d    1060  7.3   72+ : **  8.2  8.2  0.03"  30.0  OCc1340  BCMRS
 8 D    1175  4.9   80+ : **  5.8  5.8  0.10"  90.0  OCc 229  ,AkChW
 8 d   97234  8.3   80+ : AB  8.98 9.17 0.33"  70.7  COU 772  ,AkChIW
 8 D   97260  7.0   81+ : AB  7.0  8.6  6.2"  275.1  STF1140  B
       97260:  B star is X104942
 8 d   97350  9.1   81+ : AB  9.2 12.7  7.6"  320.2  COU  44  BCMS
 9 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    BCMRS,AkChW
 9 d   98189  9.2   89+ : AB  9.7 10.2  0.30"  62.3  A  2474  M
 9 d   98220! 8.7   90+ : **  9.3  9.6  0.05" 118.7  OCc1674  BR,AkCh
   *** 98220 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 211682657}
 9 d   98229  8.1   90+ : **  9.2  9.2  0.10" 345.0  OCc 807  M
   *** 98229 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 211721876}
10 d   98720  8.7   95+ : AB  8.8 11.1  0.50"  86.0  HDS1397  BCMRS,IW

13 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    BCMRS,AkChIW
14 r  139224  9.3   96- : **  9.9  9.9  0.10" 141.0  OCc 642  M
15 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    BCMRS,AkChIW
16 R    2113# 7.6   84- : AB  7.92 9.21 0.42" 310.4  HU  141  BCMRS
17 R X 39610  7.7   77- : AB  7.9 10.1  3.2"   3.6   BU   33  CMS,ChIW
18 r  159831  7.5   69- : **  8.8  8.8  0.05" 350.0  OCc1491  BCMS,AkChIW
18 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    BCMRS
19 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    BCMRS,AkChIW
19 d  160421# 8.6   58- : AB  8.9 10.0  1.00"  53.7  STN  33  M
   *** 160421 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 233404113}
       160421:  B star is X141119
20 r  160900# 9.0   51- : AB  9.0 11.4  7.6"   69.7  ARA 448  ,AkChW
20 r  160935# 9.1   50- : AB  9.9 10.0  0.30" 168.3  A  2254  ,AkChIW
20 r  160994# 8.4   50- : AB  8.8  9.8  0.40" 153.8  A  2256  CM,I
20 r  161034  9.1   49- : AB  9.1 11.7  8.4"   70.3  ARA 450  BCMRS,I
20 r X150030 10.3   48- :    10.3 11.5  0.9"  306.4  OCC1527  R
                        :A,BC10.7 11.5  1.3"  204.1  STN  41  R
21 r  161883# 8.3   40- : AB  8.4 11.2  8.7"   34.6  J  1658  BCMS,AkChIW
   ***  161883 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 218638515}
21 R  161834  7.5   41- : AB  7.75 9.00 0.40" 153.1  RST3198  ,AkChW
21 R    2731# 6.6   41- : AB  6.87 8.14 0.52" 154.6  KUI  88  ,Ak
21 r X 44785* 9.8   40- : AB 10.4 10.6  0.50"  97.0  TDT1075  ,Ak
21 r X161015# 9.9   40- : ** 10.4 11.0  0.26" 104.1  OCc1791  ,AkChW
21 R    2745  6.8   40- : AB  6.9 11.8 16.2"   36.8  HO  569  BCRS,AkChW
   ***  2745 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 218529637}
21 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    BCMRS,ChIW
22 R  162937# 7.9   30- : **  8.6  8.6  0.10"  90.0  OCc  25  CMS,AkChIW
23 r  163689  9.3   22- : AB 10.1 10.1  0.32" 110.6  RST5551  ,AkChIW
23 R    3029  7.0   20- : **  7.7  7.7  0.10"  90.0  OCc 290  M
24 r X 50297  9.0   14- : AB  9.1  9.8  2.9"  135.2  SCJ  28  ,AkChW
     X 50297;  B star is X179433
24 r X 50479 10.6   13- : AB 10.7 11.4  1.6"   37.1  RST4089  BRS
25 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    BCRS,Ak
25 R    3301  8.8    6- : AB  8.8 11.7  8.7"  292.5  BU  174  BCRS
        3301:  B star is X182828 
26 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    M

31 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    BR

==================================================================

Reporting Your Observations

The most convenient way of reporting is to use Dave Herald's OCCULT which has a Double Star report option in the Observations editor. Before using it, generate a light curve with Limovie and copy to the clip board. Your graph will be attached to the email which you can then send to palbrl@clear.net.nz.

Otherwise in reporting please include your name and positional data as for other occultations reports, also your telescope type and method of observing and timekeeping.

For each event give the star name and the times of each step of the event with the corresponding accuracy. The limb PA, Rv and Cct of the event would also be useful.

In addition to measures of the PA and separation of binary stars, there is also a need for an estimate of the magnitude difference. An estimate of this can be made from the step sizes shown by Limovie data. So if possible a determination should be made of the size of each step together with an estimate of accuracy.

Please also report cases where a double event is predicted but none detected. These are especially likely with stars shown with an OCc designation

[Top of Page][Return to Home Page]