Occultations
What do occultations have to do with the size, shape and orientation of asteroids?   And what value is GPS to occultation work?

                  Books   |   Astronomy Picture of the Day   |   News   |   Calendars   |   Star Charts   |   Observing   |   Education   |   GPS   |   Time  


Occultations by Solar System Objects Over the past 20 years, stellar occultations have been use to probe planetary atmospheres and study the structures of planetary ring systems. This has been made easier by the location of many of the outer planets in star-dense regions near the galactic plane. By looking at the distribution of occultations over the 100 years from 1950 to 2050, we can see how lucky recent astronomers have been and what is in store for the future as well what great occultations were missed in the past. Interesting artifacts of spatial and brightness distribution of stars within star catalogs are also exposed. Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto results are online.

The International Occultation Timing Association - IOTA was established to encourage and facilitate the observation of occultations and eclipses. It provides predictions for grazing occultations of stars by the Moon and predictions for occultations of stars by asteroids and planets, information on observing equipment and techniques, and reports to the members of observations made. 2007 IOTA Asteroidal Predictions for the Western Hemisphere

Occultations of PPM stars by Saturn 2000-2050

 

 

© Copyright 2007 - Samuel J. Wormley
  by swormley1@gmail.com