[Atmob-announce] Bright star 22 Scorpius to be occulted Apr 17

[pbealo at comcast.net]

Early on Thurs. April 17, the bright star ( 4.8mag) 22 Scorpius, only 1.2 deg. due north of Antares, will be occulted by asteroid 1988 EB. This 34 km diameter asteroid will cause 22 Sco to drop to 17 mag for about 1.7 sec. along the occultation central line.

The location of 1988 EB is not well known. The predicted occultation zone crosses New Jersey and Pennsylvania, not New England. However, the 1 sigma uncertainty limits of its location are broad, all of MA, CT and some of NH fall within this limit. 1 sigma means there is ~ 66% chance that the occultation will occur somewhere between these lines, so it may even occur far north or south of us...

This should be an easy occultation to observe, and reported observations can help narrow the uncertainty of 1988 EB’s location considerably. 22 Sco is fairly bright and pretty easy to find. The event can be observed with binoculars – it doesn’t take a huge light bucket, and finding it should be easy. I’ll be videoing the event with a simple B&W camera on an 80mm scope. 

If seen here, the occultation will occur at approximately 1:54 AM EDT on April 17. It would be wise to observe for several minutes before and after this time.

IOTA, the International Occultation Timing Organization, collects data and helps coordinate observers for occultation events. So far, 4 observers are signed up to observe and report this event. 

Can we get another dozen observers out and help reduce these error bars, and maybe even be one of the few to actually observe the occultation?? Feel free to forward this not to other New England and New York astronomers and clubs.

If interested, contact me through ATMoB discuss or directly at pbealo at comcast.net . I'm no expert at occultations - but this looks easy enough! I have some star field plots and projected occultation path maps I can email folks. We can coordinate exactly where all participants are and send in one group report.

Peter Bealo
Sweet Hill Observatory
Plaistow, NH


Sometimes you eat the penguin, other times the penguin eats you!