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ASTROMETRIC UPDATE:
OCCULTATION BY (309) FRATERNITAS - 2003 JAN 05

[Edwin Goffin's Prediction + Finder Charts]


UPDATE: 2002 DEC 09, 01:24 UT

THE UPDATED PATH

Fraternitas Update Map

On the evening of 2003 Jan 05 UT (before dawn on the 6th), the 45 km diameter asteroid (309) Fraternitas will occult a 11.9 mag star in the constellation Gemini for observers along a path across northern Australia. The error margin for this update is large and observers over most of Australia should monitor this event.

In the case of an occultation, the combined light of the asteroid and the star will drop by 2.6 mag to 14.4 mag (the magnitude of the asteroid) for at most 3.3 seconds.

This update is based on UNSO/Flagstaff astrometry for the asteroid kindly provided by Ron Stone, TMO astrometry for the asteroid kindly provided by Bill Owen, historical astrometry from AstDys, and the following catalogs for the star position: Tycho-2.

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 : The Occultation Path : Data for the target star : Data for the minor planet :

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:
[Planetary Occultations] [Using the Predictions]
[Observing Details] [Timing Details] [Reporting Details] [Report Form]
[Asteroid Occultation Results]


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