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 it Following 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 , spec. type A5 In coastal Mid-Atlantic region (DC, Philadel- phia, Richmond, etc.), Star alt. 24 in az. 299 (northwest, opposite Sun, whose alt. will be -10 ) Occultation in Mid-Atlantic region at 11:31:40 UT 11s (6:31am & 40s EST) View of the Earth as seen from (911) Agamemnon Finder chart, 2 on a side

Path of Jan. 19 th Agamemnon occultation over the Mid-Atlantic Region 1- southern limit HIP southern limit PPMXL southern limit HIP central line HIP northern limit PPMXL northern limit 1- northern limit

Path of Jan. 19 th Agamemnon occultation over the Great Lakes Region Green: Nominal HIP predicted central line Blue: Predicted HIP path limits Gray: Predicted PPMXL path limits Red: HIP limits with 1-sigma shifts

The target star is in a sparse part of Lynx If you dont 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 , The target star Auriga Prepoint opportunity North

SAO prepoint opportunity in Auriga at 9:01:55 UT (4:01:55 am EST) Zenith Castor Pollux Alhena GEMINI AURIGA TAURUS El Nath Capella Menkalinan Prepoint line Of declination Prepoint UT Charts by Guide 8, generated by Ernie Iverson For scale on these charts showing the prepoint line of declination, 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 Prepoint line of declination Zenith Start by finding 2.7-mag. Aurigae; The trapezoid formed by it with,, and will confirm the identification

Detailed view for SAO prepoint 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 off all tracking and clamp your Telescope; then at the time of the occultation, the target star will be where SAO was Prepoint line of declination

For those who dont want to get up for the 4 am prepoint, and have a secure location for their telescope, there are two other reasonably good (but not as easy as the 4 am Auriga opportunity) prepoint opportunities Wednesday evening, the first with opportunity with 7.7-mag. SAO at 23:55:36 UT (6:55:36 pm EST Jan. 18), 1 minute after a more distant one with 4.5-mag. lambda Cygni

SAO prepoint opportunity in Cygnus at 23:55:36 UT (6:55:36 pm EST) Deneb Vega Albireo LYRA CYGNUS PEGASUS DELPHINUS prepoint line of declination prepoint UT Sadr SAGITTA VULPECULA Zenith

Finder Scope View for the Cygnus prepoint VULPECULA CYGNUS Deneb Sadr SAO Zenith For scale on these charts, 5 min. of time along the prepoint line of declination is z Star z = SAO 69072, 23:02:09 UT

Detailed view for SAO Cygnus prepoint at 23:55:36 UT (6:55:36 pm EST) Deneb Sadr The arrow below center marks the prepoint star, 7.7-mag. SAO Prepoint line Of declination prepoint UT Zenith

The other evening prepoint opportunity is with 6.3-mag. SAO 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 prepoint opportunity in Andromeda at 3:35:44 UT (10:35:44 pm EST) Zenith Hamal ARIES 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 32 M31 SAO Zenith

Detailed view for SAO Andromeda prepoint at 3:35:44 UT (10:35:44 pm EST) 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 at 3:41:57 UT = 10:41:5 pm EST

The following charts show how to find the target star, SAO = HIP 41337, directly, a task that will be quite a bit more difficult than pre-pointing

Overview for the target star, centered LYNX LEO CANCER GEMINIAURIGA Pollux Castor Zenith Menkalinan prepoint line of declination For scale on these charts showing the prepoint line of declination, 5 min. along that line is 1 M44 (Beehive) Regulus

Finder scope view, target centered LYNX CANCER Zenith

More detailed view, target centered Zenith

Steve Prestons 2 chart North