Rest of 2010, and 2011, Best Occultations Summary David Dunham, IOTA

There are only a few events left in 2010 – Im trying this one in n. Fla. to use a free plane ticket before it expires

Total Lunar Eclipse, Tues. am, Dec. 21 Good for observing lunar occultations of faint stars, grazing occultations, and meteor impact flashes Penumbral Eclipse Begins: 05:29:17 UT Partial Eclipse Begins: 06:32:37 UT Total Eclipse Begins: 07:40:47 UT Greatest Eclipse: 08:16:57 UT Total Eclipse Ends: 08:53:08 UT Partial Eclipse Ends: 10:01:20 UT Penumbral Eclipse Ends: 11:04:31 UT Unfortunately, there are no good grazes during totality in the USA; the brightest are of 9 th -mag. stars. There is a graze of 7.0-mag. ZC 887 in s. Georgia, and one of 8.3-mag. SAO over s. Penn., n.e. Md., & Delaware, but both grazes occur about 7:05 UT at umbral distances of 95% and with the Moon more than 50% out of the umbra. Depending on the weather, I may undertake an expedition for one of them, since these are the best we have.

Grazes during the Dec. 21 st eclipse Double and Variable Star Information Index Star Sep. P.A. # # D mag. L mag1 mag2 " deg. 241 ZC 887 V 7.0 S SAO M 8.9 S SAO S Var. BQ Ori 246 SAO X 7.6 S SAO X 9.8 S Index Star w. UT w. end # # D mag. L h m long lat 239 SAO S SAO S ZC 887 V 7.0 S SAO M 8.9 S SAO S SAO S SAO S SAO X 7.6 S SAO N XZ S SAO N SAO X 9.8 S PPM S SAO N SAO N

Best 2011 Lunar Grazes RASC 2011 % L w. UT w. end States, # Date Star # D mag. Snl h m long lat Prov. Star Name 2 JAN 1 ZC N NV-TX omicron Sco 5 JAN 8 ZC 3320 T S IA-QC kappa Aqr (Situla) 6 JAN 9 ZC 3326 O S sBaja-NC 8 JAN 10 ZC 3453 V S BC-SK kappa Psc 14 JAN 18 ZC 946 Q S OR-ON eta Gem (Propus) 15 JAN 18 ZC 976 G 2.9b 96+ S nCA-NC mu Gem (Tejat) 23 JAN 28 ZC S VT-ME 26 JAN 29 ZC S UT-LA 38 FEB 11 ZC 472 K N BC-SK zeta Ari 46 FEB 14 ZC 916 Q N sCA-MX 1 Gem 62 MAR 13 ZC 976 G N BC-QC mu Gem (Tejat) 77 MAR 25 ZC 2513 K N sCA-TX 44 Oph 81 APR 7 ZC 486 H N PA-NJ tau Ari 85 APR 8 ZC 660 V N BC-WY upsilon Tau 86 APR 10 ZC 946 Q N CA-MX eta Gem (Propus) 87 APR 11 ZC 1077 B N QC-NS zeta Gem (Mekbuda) 132 JUL 7 ZC 1713 V N n.Calif. 139 JUL 26 ZC 660 V N s.Fla. upsilon Tau 152 AUG 9 ZC 2513 K S nCA-ID 44 Oph 153 AUG 10 ZC S ME-NS omicron Sgr 160 AUG 22 ZC N MX(NL)-MA-NL 37 Tau 168 AUG 25 ZC 1077 B 4.0d 17- N sCA-AZ zeta Gem (Mekbuda) 173 SEP 4 ZC 2290 L 2.3b 42+ N MX-PA delta Sco (Dschubba) 194 OCT 16 ZC 656 V N TX-NC kappa Tau 198 OCT 17 ZC 817 T S WA-WI 114 Tau 204 OCT 21 ZC 1341 Y S WA-NS alpha Cnc (Acubens) 211 NOV 5 ZC 3326 O S CA(SF)-MB 222 NOV 28 ZC S WA-AB 33 Sgr 224 NOV 29 ZC 3015 I S MO-QC tau Cap 234 DEC 10 X 6484 M 8.0 0E S BC-ID (total lunar eclipse) 244 DEC 18 ZC 1713 V S MN-ME

Occultation of ZC 3339 by the binary asteroid (90) Antiope, 2011 July 19 morning

Total Lunar Eclipse, Sat. am, Dec. 10 Good for observing lunar occultations of faint stars, grazing occultations, and meteor impact flashes Penumbral Eclipse Begins: 11:33:32 UT Partial Eclipse Begins: 12:45:42 UT Total Eclipse Begins: 14:06:16 UT Greatest Eclipse: 14:31:49 UT Total Eclipse Ends: 14:57:24 UT Partial Eclipse Ends: 16:17:58 UT Penumbral Eclipse Ends: 17:30:00 UT Totality will be visible only from western North America, best from the Pacific Northwest, but even there, the Moon will be rather low before twilight brightens the sky. The RASC 2011 Observers Handbook shows only one graze, of 8.0-mag. SAO 76940, a close (sep. 0.2 ) double with almost equal components, the graze path starting at 14:10 UT with the s. limit along the w. coast of Vancouver Is., then approximately from Seattle to Pasco, Wash., and over the n.e. corner of Oregon and into central Idaho where the alt. becomes too low.