Many times each week, all manner of asteroids and trans-Neptunian objects pass in front of stars, casting shadows a few miles wide all over the Earth. There are several potential events each week at any particular location. I use the word “potential” because there is still significant uncertainty in the paths for many of these events. The orbits of most small solar system objects are not yet precisely known, and, to a lesser extent, there is some uncertainty in the position of the occulted (obscured) star.
On Sunday evening, November 20, I got lucky. Not only did I record a 1.02 second occultation event, but I was lucky to see it at all as I was significantly south of the predicted path.
The star affected was Tycho 5182-758-1 (also known as BD -3° 5037) in Aquarius and the object that moved in front of it was the asteroid 430 Hybris, a space rock about 20 miles across that orbits once around the Sun every 4.8 years. Many asteroids have interesting names, and Hybris is no exception. In Greek mythology, Hybris is a spirit of insolence, violence, and outrageous behavior. It is also an alternative form of the word hubris. All quite appropriate given the outcome of the U.S. presidential election less than two weeks earlier.
Here is the video I recorded of the event:
Occultation of the star Tycho 5182-758-1 in Aquarius by the asteroid 430 Hybris
And here is the light curve I derived from the video which clearly shows the event:
Steve Messner (near Northfield, Minnesota) and I were the only ones to observe this event. It was a miss for Steve, and he was much closer to the predicted path!
Why do we do it? Even a single positive observation can greatly improve our knowledge of the orbit of the asteroid or trans-Neptunian object. More than one positive observation gives us valuable information about its size and shape. We can discover asteroid/TNO satellites and even rings! But that’s not all. These occultation events can also give us valuable information about the star. Its size, position, and the separation and position angle of new or known companion stars. Someday, we may even be able to use these events to discover exoplanets!
If you love observational astronomy and would like to contribute scientifically valuable observations by observing occultation events, contact me and I will help you get started. The more observers we have, the more valuable our scientific contribution will be.