Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Monday February 18 2019, @08:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the playing-cat-and-mouse-with-the-dog-star dept.

A 5km asteroid may briefly occult the brightest star in the night sky

On Monday night, for a few areas of South and Central America, as well as the Caribbean, Sirius will probably briefly disappear. This will occur as a small asteroid passes in front of the star, occulting it for up to 1.6 seconds, according to the International Occultation Timing Association. (Yes, the acronym is IOTA).

In this case, the asteroid 4388 Jürgenstock will have an apparent diameter just an iota bigger than Sirius. The angular diameter of the asteroid is about 0.007 arcseconds (an arcsecond is 1/3,600th of a degree of the night sky), whereas the angular diameter of Sirius is 0.006 arcseconds. Thus, as the asteroid passes in front of Sirius, the star will briefly dim, perhaps completely, before quickly brightening again. Sirius may appear to blink once, slowly.

[...] With a diameter of 4.7km, this inner-asteroid belt object was discovered in 1964 by an astronomer named—you guessed it—Jürgen Stock. This occultation should allow astronomers a rare opportunity to better characterize the dimensions of the asteroid. It is likely to have an irregular shape—further contributing to the uncertainty about the extent to which it will block the light from Sirius.

4388 Jürgenstock.

Related: Ring Confirmed Around Dwarf Planet Haumea
One Last Stellar Occultation of 2014 MU69 to be Observed Before Jan. 1 New Horizons Flyby
Distant Kuiper Belt Planetesimal Found Using Occultation


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 4, Informative) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday February 18 2019, @08:48PM (2 children)

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Monday February 18 2019, @08:48PM (#803167) Journal

    The amazing part is when observers across the world (in the occlusion zone) all train cameras (of all kinds of wavelengths) or spectrometers and record with very high precision timing the wavelength intensities. The best occultations can even just use plain (stable) cell phone video for the data. They can record light fluctuations that the eye cannot. The parallax from doing so can be enough that a 2-d representation of what the asteroid looked like passing by can be synthesized, not completely unlike ASCII art. And other times the collective effort finds companion drops of intensity to either side of the asteroid itself indicating satellite companions of the asteroid.
    It's again one of those areas where amateur astronomers can contribute meaningful data for discovery.

    --
    This sig for rent.
    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Monday February 18 2019, @09:12PM

      by Gaaark (41) on Monday February 18 2019, @09:12PM (#803186) Journal

      Oy vey, bubala...your sig!

      --
      --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 4, Funny) by mhajicek on Monday February 18 2019, @09:56PM

      by mhajicek (51) on Monday February 18 2019, @09:56PM (#803206)

      So would the people participating in the practice be known as "occultists"?

      --
      The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
  • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday February 18 2019, @09:09PM

    by Gaaark (41) on Monday February 18 2019, @09:09PM (#803184) Journal

    the weeping angels will get it.

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Aurean on Monday February 18 2019, @09:16PM (2 children)

    by Aurean (4924) on Monday February 18 2019, @09:16PM (#803188)

    Is 'Occlude'

(1)