Chiron.20130910 Occultation September 10, 2013

(last updated 2013 09 06)

Finder Charts

 

Across the globe pictured above, the three solid lines correspond to the northern limit, centerline, and southern limit of Chiron's shadow. The northern and southern limits correspond to a radius of 108 km. The upper and lower dashed lines indicate 3-sigma errors. The shaded area represents where the sun is more than 12 degrees below the horizon.
Table 1: Prediction Details
Chiron Geocentric Mid-time (yyyy month dd hh:mm:ss)

2013 September 10 07:44:08± 00:00:321 UT

Chiron Minimum Geocentric Separation 0.637± 0.0611 arcsec
Position Angle (Chiron relative to the star; measured north through east) –24.17 degrees
Geocentric Velocity 23.58 km/sec
Occultation Star USNOB R magnitude 15.292

1One standard deviation of random error.
2The UCAC bandpass (579-642nm) is between V and R.


Table 2: Reference Star Position
Reference star position:
(UCAC2, at epoch of event)
RA (h:m:s; J2000) Dec (d:m:s; J2000) Notes
Chiron.20130910 Catalog 22 41 19.1505 ± 0.0290 –02 23 49.621 ± 0.199
Chiron.20130910 Measured3 22 41 19.1617 ± 0.0013 –02 23 49.772 ± 0.005
From 5 USNO 61-inch frames
Table 3: Projected KBO Offsets from Reference Ephemeris at the Time of the Event
Body RA (arcsec) Dec (arcsec)  
Chiron

0.0043 ± 0.0639

–0.330 ± 0.060 See Notes 5 and 6

3Measured position corresponds to RA offset of +0.1668 and Dec. offset of –0.1515.

4All "offsets" are defined in the ("corrected" – "reference") or ("observed" – "calculated") sense. The offsets should be added to reference positions to get the measured positions, which we use to calculate the prediction.

4Data analyzed using UCAC2 reference network. A weighted average of the data from the two telescopes was used to calculate the RA and DEC. The errors given are 1 standard deviation.

5The reference positions for Haumea are those given by JPL Horizon's ephemeris (Chiron source file: JPL79; Earth center source file: DE405).

6Data from the USNO 61-inch, SMARTS 0.9m, and Lowell 42-inch telescopes over the span of 3 years were reduced with respect to stars in the UCAC2 catalog. A model was developed to fit the residuals obtained from our measured positions compared to that of the object's JPL ephemeris. All residuals obtained from the different telescopes were consistent with the model. The model includes the first-order effects of errors in the orbital elements of Chiron: (i) constant offsets in RA and Dec, (ii) linear (in time) offsets in RA and Dec, and (iii) sinusoidal terms with the Earth's orbital period. The model was propagated to obtain the predicted position and error of the KBO at the time of the occultation. The errors listed for the KBO are 1 standard deviation.

 

Table 4: Site Information

Site
East Longitude
Latitude

Site Altitude6

(km)

Distance7

(km)

Velocity

(km/s)

Flagstaff
–111 44 23
35 11 02
2.316
4628 S.
23.79
Mauna Kea (IRTF)
–155 28 29
19 49 46
4.182
4287 S.
23.91
SVH
–74 56 45
40 57 41
0.220
5259 S.
23.79
Wallace
–71 29 06
42 36 36
0.107
5181 S.
23.77
Williams
–73 12 06
42 42 42
0.215
5131 S.
23.78
Geocenter
----------
---------
center of Earth
7674 S.
23.58

6Altitude of each observatory is measured in kilometers above sea level.

7"Distance" refers to the closest approach distance of the "Site" to the center of Chiron's shadow in the shadow plane. The errors on all closest approach distances are ±732 km (one standard deviation). "S." means the site is south of the center of Chiron's shadow. "N." means the site is north of the center of Chiron's shadow.

Table 5: Chiron.20130910 Occultation Predictions for Individual Sites

Site
KBO Immersion (UT)9
UT Mid-Time
KBO Altitude
Solar Altitude9

KBO Emersion (UT)9

Flagstaff
-----------
07:42:15
50
-----------
-----------
Mauna Kea (IRTF)
-----------
07:45:23
53
-----------
-----------
SVH
-----------
07:40:32
27
-----------
-----------
Wallace
-----------
07:40:26
25
-----------
-----------
Williams
-----------
07:40:30
26
-----------
-----------
Geocenter
-----------
07:44:08
-----------
-----------
-----------

9The errors on all times are ±0:32 (32 seconds; one standard deviation). The solar altitude is given for locations where it is relevant (solar altitude greater than -18°). No entry in the immersion and emersion columns indicates that the occultation is not predicted to be visible at that site.


Last updated by Carlos Zuluaga (czuluaga@mit.edu) 2013-09-06 13:20

Please direct all inquiries to PAL (planetary-astronomy@mit.edu)

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