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POSSIBLE OCCULTATION OF UCAC2 13229620
BY 617 Patroclus or Menoetius
2010 June 14


A 3.84 second occultation was recorded by Dave Gault, using video OSD technique.

View the updated prediction.

Observers:
  1    D Gault,Hawkesbury Heights,NSW,AU
  2(P) Prediction June

    

Patroclus occultation - 2010 June 14

Discussion:

The circle above is plotted at the Occult expected 140 km diameter of Patroclus. It is possible that this should be drawn as small as 104 km (see below).
With only one chord it is not possible to determine whether Dave was north or south of the central line of the event.

The predicted path is right out of the frame at any zoom factor. Dave would have been in about the 3 sigma zone so probability was rather low.

Patroclus is the prime member of a binary pair of Jovian Trojan asteroids. See Wikipedia or UC Berkeley.
As the Wikipedia article suggests the diameters are comparable (104km Primary vs 112km with distance about 680km avg - the 140 km ) the actual paths they follow would have some added uncertainty and it is uncertain if Dave saw Patroclus or Menoetius occult the star.

The figure below shows the Tangra light curve of the occultation.

Patroclus occultation - 2010 June 14

The very short dip with integrating camera adds to the uncertainty of this observation and it should not be used for astrometric purposes.
This uncertainty is big enough to earn the Possible Occultation caution.

Dave has loaded video copy of the occultation to Youtube here.

Observational Data:

Observation details for MP (617) Patroclus or Menoetius
By Star              UCAC2 13229620
On 2010-06-14  at 19:56:30.0

_______________________________

Observer   Dave Gault
Location   Hawkesbury Heights,NSW,AU
Longitude  +150:38
Latitude   -33:39
Altitude   286 m
Datum      WGS84
Telescope Newtonian
Aperture   25 cm
Seeing     Steady Clear
Timing     GPS - time inserted Video with frame analysis
Disappearance  19:57:04.95
Reappearance   19:57:08.79
Comments: Light curve plot and .csv file included with this report.
See http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/astmoons/am-00617.html
for details of companion Menoetius

    

Return to 2010 occultation results



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