IOTA/IOTA-ES occultation update for (0) 2003 FF128 / UCAC2 26686282 event on 2008 May 12, 23:54 UT Visible from Africa, Europe Summary ------- On 2008 May 12 UT, the 151 km diameter asteroid (0) 2003 FF128 will occult a 13.6 mag star in the constellation Libra for observers along a path across Africa, Europe. In the case of an occultation, the combined light of the asteroid and the star will drop by 8.2 mag to 21.8 mag (the magnitude of the asteroid) for at most 6.4 seconds. This update is based on historical astrometry from the MPC files (via AstDys), and the following catalogs for the star position: UCAC. The event at a glimpse ---------------------- * Rank: 0 * date and approx. time of event: 2008 May 12, 23:54 - 2008 May 12, 23:54 UT * midpoint of event [JD]: 2454599.42705417 * magnitude of target star: 13.6 * magnitude drop [mag]: 8.2 * estimated maximum duration [s]: 6.4 * Moon: 57 % sunlit, 72° distance * Sun: 170° distance * rough path description: Africa, Europe The occultation path -------------------- * approximate projected width [km]: 151 * 1 sigma uncertainty interval [path widths]: +/- 115.78 * 1 sigma uncertainty interval [seconds]: +/- 1426.6 * 1 sigma uncertainty interval approx RA,DE ["]: (+/- 1.460 +/- .900) * 1 sigma uncertainty ellipse (major, minor, PA): ( 1.513", .810", 108° ) * approx speed of asteroid's shadow [km/s]: 23.4415 * website for maps: http://www.asteroidoccultation.com Path Coordinates: Path does not land on Earth. Data for the target star ------------------------ * name: UCAC2 26686282 * constellation : Libra * J2000 position with proper motion to date of event [h,m,s ; °,',"] RA: 14 42 39.7206 DE: -14 13 13.410 * position source: Pos: UCAC2, pm: UCAC2, pi: * standard error: RA,DE ["]: ( .090, .090 ) * V mag [mag]: 13.6 * B mag [mag]: 0.0 * Apparent position with proper motion RA(deg): 220.7879731370 DE(deg): -14.2594252204 * Equation of equinoxes (radians) : 0.000041100424950 * remarks: Data for the minor planet ------------------------- * general information: (number) name: (0) 2003 FF128 approx. diameter [km]: 151 approx. diameter ["]: .007 distance from Earth [AU]: 31.30800 * orbital information: orbit source: Preston date of fit: 2008 Feb 16 source of used astrometry: MPC (via Astdys) number of used observations: 42 number of rejected observations: 0 time covered by the observations: 2003 Mar 31 - 2007 Jun 16 1 sigma uncertainty ellipse (major, minor, PA): 1.510, 0.805, 108° remarks: * orbital elements for (0) 2003 FF128 : Mean anomaly = 335.05631550 deg Arg. of pericenter = 170.02913010 deg Long. of node = 91.76790271 deg Inclination = 1.91022303 deg Eccentricity = 0.21948243 Semimajor axis = 39.73981713 AU Perihelion dist = 31.01762535 AU Mag: H = 6.71, G = 0.15 Epoch of elements : MJD 54598.99600000 TDT (2008 May 12.996) ------ occelmnt file for Occult BEGIN ----------------------------------- 2008 May 12 0 2003 FF128 22h 15.0m UT 13.6 14 42 39.721-14 13 13.41UCAC2 26686282 0.0 21.8 151 6.4 31.308 -0.244 1.08 15.8755 -14.220 -154.65 18.41 22.2493 1.35617 4.44513-12.65495 3.86161 0.00094 -0.00045 2000 335.0209232008 5 4.00000170.029130 91.767903 1.9102230.2194824339.739817131.0176255 6.7 5.00.15 RATE 0.0393430 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.0000000 0.0000000 0.0000000 Meas 1.513 0.810 108116.78 0.770 0 54513.5020080512_686282 ------ occelmnt file for Occult END ----------------------------------- ============================================ Calculator (s): Steve Preston Date of update: 2008 Mar 31, 04:48 UT Steve Preston 7640 NE 32nd St Medina, WA 98039 425-688-9965 mailto: stevepr@acm.org