A 1.8 second occultation was recorded by Diana Watson, Whakatane, New Zealand using visual observations.

View the updated prediction.

Observers:
  1      Diana Watson, Whakatane, New Zealand 

Discussion:

The circle above is plotted at the quoted 40 km diameter. Diana observed Vala north of the star. The plot confirms that this was probably a grazing pass. Diana commented that she thought her D was slow. A non-instantaneous D may suggest that the asteroid was approaching the limb at a relatively glancing angle (thereby leading to a lengthening of the Fresnel diffraction fringes which would appear to a visual observer as a fading of the star before being extinguished) whereas the instantaneous R suggests that the path of the star was more normal to the surface.

Observational Data:

Observer's Name                  : Diana Watson
Aperture (cm)                    : 20
Focal length (cm)                : 200
Type (e.g. SCT; Newtonian)       : Celestron 8
Magnification                    : 160 times
Observing site name              : Whakatane
Longitude (DD MM SS ; East +ve)  : 176 51 50.7
Latitude (DD MM SS ; South -ve)  : -37 55 18.5
Height above Sealevel (metres)   : 2.8 metres
Geodetic Datum (e.g.WGS84,NZ1949): WGS84
Height Datum (if known)          : 

Sky Transparency (Delete two)    : Good 
Star Image Stability (Delete two): Good
Other Conditions:  
     (Wind, Clouds, Lights, etc.): Moonlight and a bit of moisture disturbance

Time Source (e.g. WWVH, GPS)     : WWVH
Recording method (e.g. tape)     : tape recorder
Could you see the Asteroid?      : Yes
Approx. Limiting Magnitude       : 13
                                          | Estimated  |
                           Universal Time | Reaction   | Accuracy, Remarks
                              h  m  s     | Time (sec) | 
Started Observing          : 07:48:00.0
Star and Object Merged     : 07:46:00.0    by this minute
Disappearance At           : 07:56:46.4
Reappearance At            : 07:56:48.2   
Star and Object Separated  : 08:08:00.0    well by this minute. 
Stopped Observing          : 08:06:00.0

Was your reaction time (also known as Personal Equation) subtracted from 
any of the above timings?  : 
If YES, state value        : 
If you could tell, in which direction did the asteroid pass relative to 
the star (Delete three)    : NORTH, 


ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: A shadow seemed to flick past very quickly to the north of the star 
and I had the impression that the whole star did not dim, could see a bright bit below 
the shadow. Could have been slow timing the start but the star returned to full brightness 
almost instantly and this reaction time was good.