J/AJ/119/936 Triton stellar occultation candidates (McDonald+, 2000)
Triton stellar occultation candidates: 2000-2009
McDonald S.W., Elliot J.L.
<Astron. J. 119, 936 (2000)>
=2000AJ....119..936M 2000AJ....119..936M
ADC_Keywords: Occultations ; Positional data
Keywords: astrometry - occultations - planets and satellites: individual: Triton
Abstract:
As part of our ongoing program of predictions and observations of
stellar occultations by solar system bodies, we have completed a
search for candidates for occultations by Triton over the decade 2000
to 2009. Star positions near Triton's projected orbit as determined by
the DE405 ephemeris and NEP016 orbit model were measured on
(unfiltered) CCD strip scans recorded with the 0.6 m telescope at the
George R. Wallace Astrophysical Observatory to a depth of 16th to 18th
magnitude, depending on the quality of individual strip scans. Within
1.0" of the predicted orbit of Triton during this period, 128 stars
were found, including 12 stars brighter than 14th magnitude. Only
appulses with geocentric minimum separations of less than about 0.37"
will result in an occultation visible from Earth, but potential errors
in the ephemeris and in the positions of our candidates preclude
accurate prediction of actual occultation events without further
astrometry.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
table3.dat 111 129 Possible occultations by Triton
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See also:
J/AJ/104/862 : Triton stellar occultation candidates (McDonald+ 1992)
J/AJ/109/1352 : Triton Stellar occultation candidates (McDonald+ 1995)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: table3.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 5 A5 --- Event Event (TrNNN)
6 A1 --- m_Event [ab] Multiplicity flag on Event
8- 15 A8 "DD/MM/yy" App.date Date (closest approach)
17- 18 I2 h App.h UT time of the closest approach
19- 20 I2 min App.m UT time of the closest approach
22- 25 F4.2 arcsec Sep Minimum Separation (closest approach)
27- 29 I3 deg PA Position angle of Triton (closest approach)
measured North through East
31- 34 F4.1 km/s Vshad Occultation shadow velocity relative to the
geocenter (closest approach)
36- 39 F4.1 mag CCDmag CCD magnitude (approx. Rmag)
41- 44 I4 --- S/N Signal-to-noise ratio (1)
46- 48 I3 deg Elong Solar elongation of Triton at event time
50- 53 I4 deg Long Substar Earth longitude of the star at
the time of the event (2)
55- 56 I2 h RAh Right ascension (J2000)
58- 59 I2 min RAm Right ascension (J2000)
61- 66 F6.3 s RAs Right ascension (J2000)
68 A1 --- DE- Declination sign (J2000)
69- 70 I2 deg DEd Declination (J2000)
72- 73 I2 arcmin DEm Declination (J2000)
75- 79 F5.2 arcsec DEs Declination (J2000)
81- 85 F5.2 AU Dist Distance
87-111 A25 --- Strips CCD strip images on which the candidate was
measured
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Note (1): The signal-to-noise ratio for the light curve has been
calculated for an averaging interval of 20km (the approximate scale
height of Triton's atmosphere), based on the expected performance of
HOPI on SOFIA (see text). Potential observers should evaluate the S/N
for the telescope and photometric equipment planned for use.
Note (2): The substar Earth latitude is the same as the star's declination
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History: From AJ electronic version
(End) James Marcout, Patricia Bauer [CDS] 27-Mar-2000