The list shows occultations of possible double stars during January. 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 January 2019 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 brian.loader@slingshot.co.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.

ARCHIVING 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.

********************************************************************************
Jan      No    v    ill      magnitudes sepn    PA0  OCC #    Visibility
 1 r X 39376 10.1   17- : AB 10.9 10.8  0.60" 105.2  RST3915  SC
 1 r X 39439#10.3   17- : AB 11.1 11.2  0.17"  79.4  HDS2167° RB
   ***  X 39439 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 250166140}
 1 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    R
 2 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTSCM,Ak
 3 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RB
 3 r X 41932  9.6    5- : AB  9.8 11.3  1.9"  214.3  HU 1175  RBTSCM
      X 41932:  B star is X139791
   *** X 41932 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 230792408}
 3 R  160296  8.1    5- : AB  8.8  8.8  0.70" 181.0  ARG  78  RBT
   *** 160296 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 230779691}

 8 d X 49463  9.3    5+ : AB  9.4 11.2  8.6"  178.5  HLD 165  T
10 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    ,Ak
11 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTSCM
12 d  128631* 7.8   33+ : AB  7.8  9.3  7.6"  291.0  STF   8  RBTSCM
       128631:  B start is X54701
13 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTSCM,AkWChI
17 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTSCM
18 d   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTSCM,AkWChI
18 d     808!?6.8   90+ : **  6.9 10.9  0.04"  73.5  OCc1720  RB
19 d X  8800  8.5   96+ : AB  9.0 10.2  1.83"  50.2  AG  323  RBTSCM,AkWChI
                        : AC  9.0 12.7  5.9"   57.4  AG  323  RBTSCM,AkWChI
                        : AD  9.0 12.6  9.3"  290.0  AG  323  RBTSCM,AkWChI
19 d   78287  9.2   96+ : AB 10.0 11.0  3.0"   90.9  L    37  RBTS
19 d   78352# 7.2   96+ : AB  7.33 9.38 0.59" 262.2  STT 139° TSCM,ChI
20 d   79285  7.9   99+ : AB  8.0 10.6  0.70"  71.8  HDS1023  ,Ak
20 d   79425* 7.6   99+ : **  8.3  8.3  0.08"  81.0  OCc1064  RB

21 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTSCM,Ak
21 r   80327  7.8  100- : AB  7.9  9.6  0.63" 138.2  COU  47  RBTSCM
   ***  80327 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 211989558}
21 r    1296  6.6  100- : Bab 6.6       0.40" 182.1  CHR  38  RBSCM
   ***   1296 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 211982469}
21 r   98020  7.6  100- : **  9.1  9.1  0.05" 350.0  OCc1392  R
   ***  98020 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 211964025}
21 r    1302  6.8  100- : **  7.5  7.5  0.05" 350.0  OCc1393  RB
   ***   1302 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 211966197}
21 r    1305  6.9  100- : **  7.2  9.1  0.02" 102.1  OCc 638  RBTSCM
   ***   1305 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 211976270}
22 r   98744  8.9   97- : **  9.6  9.6  0.25" 113.0  OCc1123  RBT
23 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTSCM
25 r  119469  9.2   74- : AB  9.3 11.8  0.30"  76.6  HDS1764  CM,I
25 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTSC
26 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    RBTCM,WChI
26 r    1922  8.3   63- : AB  8.4  9.8 24.8"  262.0  STF1741  SCM,WChI
   ***   1922 is in the Kepler2 program {ID = 251562927}
27 r  139823  9.1   53- : AB  9.79 9.80 0.62"  35.2  HU  138° ,AkWChI
27 R  139898  7.6   51- : AB  7.5  7.5  6.0"  175.1  STF1833  M
28 r X 39132!?9.5   41- : **  9.6 11.8  0.07"  93.0  OCc1843  M
30 r   *** Kepler Stars occulted, light curves are desired    SCM,AkWChI
30 r  160088  9.7   23- : AB 10.1 11.3  0.14" 333.0  HU  313  ,WChI
31 r  185642* 8.3   15- : **  8.7  8.7  0.10"  90.0  OCc  37  SC,AkWChI

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

Visibility codes:
Australia: R Rockhampton, B Brisbane, T Tamworth, S Sydney, C Canberra, M Melbourne  

NZ (following a ,) Ak Auckland, W Wellington, Ch Christchurch, I Invercargill.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Stars with previous occultation observations: 

#: Observations indicating double - these need further checking
*: Observations not showing double - need confirmation
!: Recent video discoveries - confirmation needed.
?: Uncertain double observation, confirmation or otherwise needed

A WDS number followed by a ° sign indicates the double has a known orbit.

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

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 brian.loader@slingshot.co.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

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