From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4@msn.com)
Date: Tue Oct 01 2002 - 05:25:07 PDT
----- Original Message -----
From: David Dunham
Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2002 5:28 AM
To: occultation@skypub.com
Subject: AstroAlert: Naked-eye occ'n of eta Leo in N. America Thurs. am
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This Is SKY & TELESCOPE's AstroAlert for Occultations
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On Thursday morning, October 3rd, perhaps the best lunar
occultation of 2002 will occur for North American observers as the
3.5-magnitude close double star eta Leonis is uncovered by the 13%
sunlit waning crescent Moon. It will be best seen generally from
the eastern 2/3rds of the U.S.A., but also from populous parts of
southern Ontario and southern Quebec, the Greater Antilles, most of
Mexico, and Central America north of Costa Rica.
A small telescope will be needed to see the disappearance on the
sunlit side, but the dark-side reappearance might even be seen
without optical aid for those with good eyesight or good glasses,
although binoculars (or even better, zoom in with a camcorder) are
recommended. IOTA seeks especially timings of the occultation
events made with camcorders or video cameras with WWV time signals
recorded in the audio; some visual timing techniques are also
described in an item near the top of my Web page at
http://iota.jhuapl.edu . Predicted times and cusp angles for the
occultation for over 200 North American cities can be found at
IOTA's Web site at http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota . The
occultation will also be visible from parts of southern and western
Africa, but it will be difficult there, with the event occuring in
the daytime with the Sun higher in the sky than the Moon.
A spectacular grazing occultation will occur on the dark side
near the northern cusp along a path starting at moonrise in central
Utah, passing near Cheyenne, WY; across n. Nebraska; s.e. South
Dakota; the n.w. tip of Iowa; southern Minnesota (about 60 miles s.
of Minneapolis); central Wisconsin (near Green Bay); the
northernmost part of lower Michigan; part of Ontario; southern
Quebec (near Quebec City); northern Maine (near Presque Isle);
central New Brunswick (sunrise); and northern Nova Scotia.
Detailed IOTA predictions for the northern limit of the occultation,
and information and ACLPPP profiles indicating the best locations to
observe relative to the limit line, will soon be posted on the IOTA
Web site given above (slightly less accurate "Occult" predictions
are already there, along with a small map showing the northern limit).
Procedures for using these predictions, and the ACLPPP profiles, are
given in an item near the top of my Web page at http://iota.jhuapl.edu
The weather forecast is not promising along most of the graze
path, with it expected to be (Accuweather) mostly cloudy from Utah
to South Dakota, then at least partly cloudy ovew most of the rest
of the path. I was hoping to travel to observe this graze myself,
but will not unless the weather forecast improves. I can prepare
plots of the path on maps, especially for areas where there is a
reasonable chance that the graze might be observed.
David Dunham, IOTA
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