RECON is gearing up for an event during Thanksgiving Week involving Centaur 08FC76 on Wednesday morning, November 23. The prediction for this event places the centerline directly through the middle of our network, with over 40 RECON sites within the 1-sigma shadow zone.

Prediction map for 08FC76

What could be better than the above event, which has a 67% probability of resulting in publishable measurement of this outer Solar System object?  A second event with equally good probability for success!  On Saturday night, December 10 (December 11 UT), RECON will be pursuing our third campaign event this autumn involving Centaur 14UT114, with a shadow path passing over Central Oregon. For this December event, EVERY RECON SITE will is within the 1-sigma uncertainty zone, resulting in an 80% probability for success!

Prediction for 14UT114 on 11 December, 2016 UT

RECON is very well positioned to obtain results for two scientific papers from the above events. All observers participating in any of the above events will have the opportunity to also participate as a co-author.

Here’s to clear skies across the Western US on the morning of November 23 and the evening of December 10!

It’s been four months since our last campaign, but RECON is prepped and ready for our first full network campaign of the 2016-17 school year!

Predicted shadow centerline for 12UT68

Tonight’s event involves Centaur 12UT68. Formed out beyond Neptune, this object was recently kicked inward to the solar neighborhood near Saturn and Neptune. Estimates place its size at 30-75 km, but RECON is trying to determine this with far greater precision. Although the predicted shadow path is slightly off the network, the 1-sigma uncertainty in this prediction is 600 km. This means there is a good chance the shadow may pass over communities to the south, and all of our scopes are well positioned to probe the region around 12UT68.

As with all ground-based astronomy, weather and sky conditions are always an important factor. As of this morning, the weather is not looking great for many of our teams in the Northwest and spotty for several Northern California and Nevada teams. The sky cover prediction map below was produced using tools available at www.cleardarksky.com.

Cloud cover prediction for 12UT68 event (Copyright 2016 A.Danko)

For our teams with partly cloudy skies, they will be aligning their telescopes and finding the star field using patches of clear sky. Then it will be a matter of waiting it out to see if the target region of northeastern sky stays clear during the 20-minute observing window just after 11:10PM PDT/MST tonight. And hopefully the prediction for better weather will hold for our teams in southern California and along the Colorado River closest to the shadow centerline prediction!

For more details on this event, visit our Event Page for 12UT68. Good luck to all of our teams able to observe tonight despite less than ideal weather! Also, stay tuned for our next event on the morning of Wednesday, November 23, with a predicted shadow passing directly through the center of the RECON network!!!

Below are details for an optional main belt asteroid campaign for RECON teams from Lake Havasu to Yuma.  For more details, refer to Occult Watcher and following link:
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2016_10/1005_451_37098.htm

Date: 05 October 2016 UT
Recording Window: 06:06:00 – 06:09:00
Sense-up: x2

Star training set for 451 Patientia, (2016/10/05 06:08UT)
Object RA Dec mag sep mel
Fomalhaut 22:58:34.4 -29:31:59 1.2 3.75 96
PPM 274650 23:10:38.8 -27:59:51 5.9 0.76 100
PPM 274716 23:14:12.4 -28:19:26 8.3 0.39 100
451 Patientia 23:14:04.0 -27:56:21 9.2 100
Positions are for equinox of date

Starchart:

Starchart for Patientia provided by Steve Preston

Starfield:

Starfield for Patientia provided by John Keller at 128x

For any of you needing the J2000 coordinates, here is your list:

J2000 Star training set for 451 Patientia
Object RA Dec mag sep mel
Fomalhaut 22:57:39.5 -29:37:23 1.2 3.75 96
PPM 274650 23:09:44.7 -28:05:19 5.9 0.76 100
PPM 274716 23:13:18.5 -28:24:55 8.3 0.39 100
451 Patientia 23:13:10.1 -28:01:50 9.2 100
Positions are for J2000

Thanks to all the moms who are directly and indirectly supporting our collaborative exploration of the Outer Solar System through the RECON Project!!!

After a four month hiatus, the RECON network is swinging back in action this Sunday night/Monday morning with a doubleheader campaign. The first target of the night will be Classical Kuiper Belt Object 99HR11, which is set to occult a magnitude 14 star between 12:50-1:38AM PDT/MST (7:50-8:38 UT). This Classical KBO has a mostly circular orbit and is over 6 billion km (41 AU) from Earth. The object estimated to be between somewhere between 90-220 km in diameter, but RECON hopes to measure this more precisely.

Just under 45 minutes after this first event, our RECON teams will be moving all of their scopes to the east to acquire the star field for Centaur 02GZ32, which will be occulting a magnitude 13 star between 2:22-2:37AM PDT/MST (9:22-9:37 UT). Follow-up predictions indicate that this target will be passing over the southern portion of the RECON network.

Discovery of ring system around Chariklo during 2013 occultation campaign (Nature 508, 72–75, 03 April 2014)

The network is very well positioned to discover whether this Centaur has a ring system. Rings were discovered around a similar-sized Centaur named Chariklo during an occultation campaign back in 2013. Does 02GZ32 also have rings? Does it have any moons? RECON is well positioned to find out!  Even though the central object is predicted to be to the south, the entire network is essential for searching for other material in the vicinity.

For RECON teams, we want to provide the following day-out reminders:

• Be sure to check the Camera Settings Guide to make sure that you are have the display set to 640×480. For those sites that get a “green screen” after changing this setting, you will have to press the “P” key to view the camera field in Preview Mode – now and for the remainder of the RECON project!
• Confirm that your IOTA-VTI is set to FULL SCREEN – now and for the remainder of the RECON Project!
• Complete the Pre-Event Confirmation Forms:
  • Pre-Event Confirmation Form for 99HR11
  • Pre-Event Confirmation Form for 02GZ32 (this form includes a field for indicating if you would like support from RECON for a substitute on Monday)
• Make sure that your laptop and power supply are fully charged and print out the following before the event:
  • Event Page for 09HR11
  • Event Detail Page for 09HR11
  • Event Page for 02GZ32
  • Event Detail Page for 02GZ32
  • Observation Logsheet (use the logsheet to indicate which filenames correspond to which video)
• Check out updated recommendations for the sequencing of position video, event video, and sky and dark field videos on the Event Pages above. Because Sky Field videos require turning the telescope off, you should save these for after both events. As a quick summary, we recommend:
  • Recording IOTA-VTI Position video
  • Recording 99HR11 Event at 64x
  • Acquiring field for 02GZ32
  • Recording Dark Field video at 64x if there is time before 02GZ32 (save for after 02GZ32 event if there is not time)
  • Recording 02GZ32 Event at 16x (or 32x if conditions are poor)
  • Recording Dark Field video at 16x (or 32x) after 02GZ32
  • Recording Sky Field videos at 64x and 16x (or 32x)
• In the days following the event, teams should upload their videos and logsheet information using the RECON cwrsync tool.  See Reporting Observations for details.

Sky conditions are looking good for most RECON sites except for a handful north of Reno. Check out RECON Sky Conditions for more details. Good luck to all. And again, Happy Mother’s Day!