Asteroid occultation tonight.

[GazOC]

At 04:34 (UT), 05:34 UK time the asteroid Malin should pass in front of the Mag 5.4 star HIP18993 and cause it to drop several magnitudes. One for the nightowls, I'll have to make do with my binos in work!

[OXO]

Thanks for the heads up 8)

[GazOC]

Thanks for the heads up 8)

no doubt you'll still be up!

[daz]

As will the clouds!

Thanks for the tip anyway, Gaz!

[The Warthog]

Unfortunately, it won't really be high enough in the sky for me to see, even if it's clear, but thanks for the heads-up. I know space is large, but the asteroid is small and relatively close, in cosmic terms, so wouldn't this be limited to a smallish portion of the earth?

[GazOC]

Yep WH, I beleive it's the UK, Eastern Spain and Western France.

[OXO]

no doubt you'll still be up!

Yep, as soon as the Sun starts to rise I'll be running off back to my Coffin

[Astroman]

Right, WH. Occultations trace a very narrow path across Earth's surface. It's one reason observing them yields very useful data as to their orbits, sizes, shapes and masses. If you think of it in terms of an eclipse, the shadow cast by the Moon traces a relatively wide swath compared to an asteroid, so seeing it from location X and not seeing it from location Y a few kilometers north or south really makes a difference.

Anyone interested can visit the International Occultation Timing Association, (IOTA) website at http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/iotandx.htm

The link there to David Dunham's site is amazingly detailed and informative, too.

If you want to contribute to science, this is a great way to do it. I've done a bunch of these and they're a lot of fun!