Description

Asteroid (25) Phocaea will occult TYC 0345-00268-1 on 2013 July 16 from 4:58 UT to 5:30 UT.  Local times will vary.  The star has a reported magnitude of 11.2.

While all RECON teams are invited to participate, we are primarily looking to obtain data from SOUTHERN REGION of the RECON network, specifically Reno, Carson City, Yerington, Hawthorne, Tonopah, and Bishop.  This is based upon the predicted path and uncertainties associated with this asteroid event.

Source: www.asteroidoccultation.com

Observation details

The maximum duration is 15.7 seconds.  All RECON sites should start recording at 05:15:00 and run until 05:21:00 (six minutes total).  Please use a sense-up of x32.

The first quarter moon will be 51% lit and 33 degrees away during the event.

Finder Charts (courtesy of Steve Preston and Guide)

For finder charts and a predicted ground-track of this event, visit Asteroid Occultation Updates.

Star Hop List

Name               RA         Dec     mag  dist
Arcturus        14:15:38.6 +19:10:30  0.0 21.83
Unukalhai       15:44:16.2 +06:25:33  2.6  4.95
3 Ser           15:15:11.3 +04:56:22  5.3  2.44
PPM 161485      15:22:00.1 +05:35:48  8.4  0.77
PPM 161568      15:26:45.4 +05:14:12  9.3  0.48
PPM 161545      15:25:16.0 +05:30:43 10.6  0.23
(25) Phocaea    15:24:52.0 +05:18:24 11.2

All positions are J2000.

Image of field

The image below shows the target field using a sense-up of x128.  The image was taken using a C-11 on an equatorial mount, so unfortunately the orientation will not match that of the CPC-11 alt-az ount.  We will update this file shortly with an alt-az orientation.  The target star is highlighted using red tick marks.  The field has few bright stars, but the target star is part of a fairly prominent right triangle asterism.

Other Resources

Bonus points for research into how to properly pronounce “Phocaea.”  : )