ASTROMETRIC UPDATE:
OCCULTATION BY (727) NIPPONIA - 2001 OCTOBER 27
[Prediction using OCCULT software + finder charts]
The prediction given by OCCULT runs from the Tweed area of far northern New South Wales southwest to the Spencer Gulf/Port Lincoln area of South Australia.
UPDATE: 20 October 2001
THE UPDATED PATH
This updated path lies around one path width to the south of that given by Occult and around 30 seconds earlier. The new path crosses the far northern coast of New South Wales around Grafton (13:08:30 UT) running southwest across Armidale and Gilgandra (13:09 UT). The path runs just north of Mildura before covering the country between Adelaide and Gawler in South Australia (13:10:30 UT) and the tip of the York Peninsula.
The error margins on this calculation will certainly include all of metropolitan Adelaide and perhaps the Gold Coast in Queensland. The southern outskirts of Brisbane should be considered.
Calculation Source
This prediction update has been computed by Steve Preston of Medina, Washington (state) in the United States based on astrometry from Ron Stone of the US Naval Observatory - Flagstaff Station and Raoul Behrend of the Observatoire de Geneve supplemented with data from the AstDys database. The UCAC position of the target star has been used.
Additional details of this and other events are available at Steve Preston's website at http://www.oz.net/~stevepr/Asteroids/asteroid.htm
EVENT DETAILS SUMMARY:
- Date and approx. UT time of event: 2001 October 27: 13:10 UT
- Magnitude of target star: 11.2
- Magnitude drop [mag]: 1.9
- Estimated maximum duration [s]: 4
- Angular distance to moon, phase of moon [deg,%]: 75, 80%
The Occultation Path:
- Approximate width [km]: 32
- Uncertainty [path widths]: +/- 1.35 (1 sigma)
- Remarks: Uncertainities are given on the basis of the nominal star position errors and the expected asteroid positional accuracy.
- Circles along the path are OCCULT calculated exact centerline points !!!!
Data for the target star:
- Name: TYC 4731-01344-1 = TAC -05°01680
- Constellation: Eridanus
- J2000 position [h,m,s; o,',"]: 4h 01m 31.0096s; -5o 00' 45.479"
- Position source: UCAC
- Estimated accuracy ["]: 0.040" (0.030", 0.030")
- V mag [mag]: 11.2
- Remarks:
- The target star is in northern Eridanus. It lies 2.2 degrees east-northeast of 30 Eridani (magnitude = 5.5). Finder charts are available along with the prediction by clicking here.
Data for the minor planet:
- Number, name: (727) Nipponia
- Approx. diameter [km]: 32
- Source of used astrometry: US Naval Observatory - Flagstaff Station (Ron Stone), Geneva, AstDys
- Number of used observations: 253
- Number of rejected observations: 28
- Time covered by the observations: 1900 03 06 - 2001 10 18
- Update computed by: Steve Preston, Medina, Washington, USA. (OrbFit).
IMPORTANT NOTE!
Astrometric updates such as these should not be taken as definitive, but rather only as an indication of where the true track may lie relative to the original predicted track. Observers must bear in mind that later astrometry, in which the target star is measured in the same field as the asteroid, may still reveal substantial changes to the predicted track and time of the event. For this reason it is most important that observers far from the predicted track still monitor the event.
Use these links for further information:
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