Occultation of SAO 60804, mag. 8.0, by the Trojan Asteroid

(911) Agamemnon Thurs. morning, 2012 January 19

This is the best, most valuable asteroidal occultation over the MD/greater Washington, DC region this year

We need your help to observe itFollowing are maps of the path, and several star charts to

locate the star in obscure Lynx;Pre-pointing may be needed by most to find the star

= SAO 138052,spec. type A5

In coastal Mid-Atlanticregion (DC, Philadel-

phia, Richmond, etc.),Star alt. 24 in az. 299(northwest, opposite

Sun, whose alt. will be -10)

Occultation in Mid-Atlanticregion at 11:31:40 UT 11s(6:31am & 40s EST)

View of the Earthas seen from

(911) Agamemnon

Finder chart, 2 on a side

Path of Jan. 19th Agamemnon occultation over the Mid-Atlantic Region

1- southern limit HIP southern limit

PPMXL southern limit

HIPcentral line

HIP northern limit

PPMXLnorthernlimit

1- northern limit

Path of Jan. 19th Agamemnon occultation over the Great Lakes Region

Green: Nominal HIP predicted central line Blue: Predicted HIP path limitsGray: Predicted PPMXL path limits Red: HIP limits with 1-sigma shifts

The target star is in a sparse part of Lynx

If you don’t have a robust “go-to” mount for your telescope, pre-pointing to a brighter,easier to find star with the same declination before the occultation is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. There is one good opportunity for that in Auriga shown next.

SAO 138052,The target star

Auriga

Prepoint

opportunity

North

SAO 58575 prepoint opportunity in Auriga at 9:01:55 UT (4:01:55 am EST)

Zenith

CastorPollux

Alhena

GEMINI

AURIGA

TAURUS

El Nath

Capella

Menkalinan

Prepoint line

Of declination

Prepoint UT

Charts by Guide 8,generated byErnie Iverson

For scale on thesecharts showing theprepoint line ofdeclination, 5 min.along that line is 1

The prepoint times are valid, to the 11s time accuracy, for all locations between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic coast

The arrow below center, under , marks SAO 58575

Finder Scope View for the Auriga prepoint Menkalinan

Capella

2

El Nath

SAO 58575

Prepoint line

of declination

ZenithStart by finding

2.7-mag. Aurigae;The trapezoid formedby it with , , and will confirm theidentification

Detailed view for SAO 58575prepoint at 9:01:55 UT (4:01:55 am EST)

Zenith

Menkalinan

The arrow near center marks 7.3-mag. SAO 58575; Point your telescope at it at 9:01:55 UT, turn offall tracking and clamp your Telescope; thenat the time of the occultation, the target star will be where SAO 58575 was

Prepoint line of declination

For those who don’t want to getup for the 4 am prepoint, and have a secure

location for their telescope, thereare two other reasonably good

(but not as easy as the 4 am Aurigaopportunity) prepoint opportunitiesWednesday evening, the first with

opportunity with 7.7-mag. SAO 70523 at 23:55:36 UT

(6:55:36 pm EST Jan. 18), 1 minute aftera more distant one with 4.5-mag.

lambda Cygni

SAO 70523 prepoint opportunity in Cygnus at 23:55:36 UT (6:55:36 pm EST)

Deneb

VegaAlbireoLYRA

CYGNUS

PEGASUS

DELPHINUS

prepoint line

of declination

prepoint UT

Sadr

SAGITTA

VULPECULA

Zenith

Finder Scope View for the Cygnus prepoint

VULPECULA

CYGNUS

Deneb

Sadr

SAO70523

Zenith

For scale on these charts, 5 min. of time along the prepoint line of declination is 1

25

2829

11

36

z

Star “z” = SAO 69072, 23:02:09 UT

Detailed view for SAO 70523 Cygnusprepoint at 23:55:36 UT (6:55:36 pm EST)

Deneb

Sadr

The arrow below center marks the prepoint star, 7.7-mag. SAO 70523

Prepoint line

Of declination

prepoint UT

Zenith

The other evening prepointopportunity is with 6.3-mag.

SAO 53928 at 3:35:44 UT(10:35:44 pm), 9 minutes after

a more distant one with 5.4-mag.sigma Andromedae

For scale on these charts,5 min. of time along the

prepoint line of declination is 1

SAO 53928 prepoint opportunity in Andromeda at 3:35:44 UT (10:35:44 pm EST)

Zenith

HamalARIES

TRIANGULUM

PISCES

PEGASUS

ANDROMEDA

CASSIOPEIA

LACERTA

Alpheratz

Algenib

Scheat

Almaak

51

M31

Caph

Shedir

prepoint line

of declination

prepoint UT

Finder Scope View for the Andromeda prepoint

Alpheratz

Mirach

32M31

SAO 53928

23

Zenith

Detailed view for SAO 53928 Andromedaprepoint at 3:35:44 UT (10:35:44 pm EST)

23

32

M31

x

y

prepoint line

of declination

prepoint UT

Zenith

“x” marks SAO 53928,the 3:35:44 UT prepoint“y” is another prepoint,6.6-mag. SAO 53999 at3:41:57 UT = 10:41:5 pm EST

The following charts showhow to find the target star,

SAO 60804 = HIP 41337, directly, a task that will bequite a bit more difficult

than pre-pointing

Overview for the target star, centered

LYNX

LEO

CANCER

GEMINI AURIGA

Pollux Castor

Zenith

Menkalinanprepoint line of

declination

For scale on thesecharts showing theprepoint line ofdeclination, 5 min.along that line is 1

M44(Beehive)

Regulus

Finder scope view, target centered

38

35

31

32

33

LYNX

CANCER

Zenith

More detailed view, target centered

31

32

33

Zenith

Steve Preston’s 2 chart

North