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Asteroid and Cometary Occultations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
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Occultations of stars by minor planets and comets can be used to determine the diameter of the occulting body. With photoelectric equipment, it might also be possible to measure the diameter of the occulted star or to resolve close binary systems at the same time.
On 1983 May 29, (2) Pallas occulted the 4.7-mag. star 1 Vulpeculae. A star this bright is occulted by one of the four largest asteroids only once every 60 years. Timings were sent by 130 observers in Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, Sonora, and Baja California, making it the best-observed asteroidal occultation to date. Asteroidal grazing phenomena were confirmed for the first time. The star is a spectroscopic binary. Several observers timed contacts of the 6th-mag. companion, determining the separation to ± 0.0004 arcsec. An elliptical fit to the timings projected onto the plane of the sky has been made. Unfortunately, clouds prevented timings from near the southern limit, so about 100° of Pallas’ circumference was not observed.
- Type
- Part III Observations and Results
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Springer-Verlag 1988
References
Dunham, D.: “Preliminary Report on the Pallas Occultation”, Occultation Newsletter, 3, (2) pp. 76-7 (1983 July)Google Scholar
Dunham, D.: “Observations of Appulses of Halley’s Comet”, Occultation Newsletter, 3, (16) pp. 352-4 (1986 June)Google Scholar
Dunham, D., Dunham, J., Anderson, P.: “Asteroidal and Cometary Occultations”, Proc. Astr. League 40th Ann. Mtg, Baltimore, 1986
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