t Y OcadtatumQNewstelter
Volume I, Number 10 Ma rch, 1977
The Occultation Newsletter is published by the International Occultation Timing Association (I.O.T.A.) Editor and Compositor: H. F. DaBoll, 6 N )06 white Oak Lane, St. Charl¢s. Illinofs 60174, U. S. A.
REPORTING TIMINGS OF NON-SAD STARS IOTA NEWS least, the table for that section, since I plan to continue to collect If you time occultations of stars not David hi. Dunham graze observations). in the SAD Catalog, using special pre- dictions (such as the special Hyades You probably have been wondering, with The first IOTA meeting will be held in and M67 passage predictions) which are justification, when you would receive mid-August in Boulder, Colorado, in computed and distributed by David Dun- this issue of Occultation Newsletter. conjunction with the National Anateur ham, please report those particular We are now somewhat more than one is- Astronomers Convention. Paper sessions timings to him, rather than to HMNAO. sue behind schedule, due to the fact and other scheduled activities will that I still am supplying a major pro- take place 1977 August 10-13 at the portion of the most important material University of Colorado in Boulder. Ac- for this issue, and that the time I connodations will be available at the . FROM THE PUBLISHER . can work with occultations is limited, Kittredge Residence Halls located as explained in the last issue. Work across the street from the Somers- For purposes of determining when your and correspondence related to various Bausch Observatory and the Fiske Plan- subscription to occultation Newsletter ongoing projects to improve predic- etarium. Room and board for 5 nights expires, consider this to be the last tions of different occultation phenom- (Aug. 9-13), and meals for 4 days, issue of )976, rather than the first ena, discussed in this issue, have al- will cost approximately $87 per person issue of 1977. hie expect to publish so kept me busy. Volunteers are des- for single occupancy, $80 per person four more issues during 1977. Practi- perately needed to help write some of for double occupancy, and $50 per cal considerations dictated the in- the recurring sections of o. n. and child under [3 years old. Alternately, creased size of this issue; the in- for other projects described below, in nearby motels are available, and tick- creased size is not representative of order to maintain our publishing ets may be obtained for individual future issues, despite the 'increased schedule better, and to improve and meals at the cafeterfa. The $18 pre- price starting with this one. expand IOTA'S services. So much mater- registration fee is payable to the Na- ial has acctmulated for this issue tional Amateur Astronomers, of which c\"cu!tjtion Newsletter is priced @ that there is enough for two issues. IOTA will receive $0.75 for each reg- $).00 per issue, or $4.00 per year (4 [Ed: This was written before it was istrant. Those planning to attend issues) including first class surface decided to double the size of #10.] should send the fee to: Denise Nye, mailing, until further notice. Air ' The next issue [#11] will be distrib- NAA Convention Registration, 5604 Bow- mail delivery is available at added uted in a few weeks, and will include ron PI., Longmont, CO 80501. Further cost: add 16¢/year in Canada and Mexi- several abstracts of published papers convention information is available by co; add $'1.28/year in Central America, concerning occultations, information sending a stamped self-addressed en- Colombia, Venezuela, the Caribbean Is- and charts about passages of the moon velope to Denise Nye. A 2-hour IOTA lands, Bahamas, Bermuda, St. Pierre through the Hyades cluster using As- business meeting is planned, probably and Miquejon; add $1.76/year in all trographic Catalog data (see PREDIC- early in the evening of August 11 or other countries. All back issues, #1 TIONS OF PLANETARY OCCULTATIONS), and 12. An expedition might be organized through #9, are still available @ 50¢. any material planned for this issue to observe a graze of 5.1-mag. 68 Gan- no and later issues will be priced @ which could not fit [Ed: This plan has inorum by the 6% sunlit waning moon in $1.00 as back issues. See IOTA NEWS not changed.]. For the issue after the Wyoming on Aug. 12 (see Sky and Tele- for information about Cjccultation next one [#12], fixed deadlines are scope, )977 jan., p. 71). Clubs and »"ewsletter en Espaho1. planned, so that we can better adhere individuals who wish to submit astro- to our quarterly schedule. The dead- nomical displays should contact Mer- The foregoing applies only to separ- lines will be 1977 April 15 for mater- rill Manion, 1775 Id. Kentucky Ave., ate, individual subscriptions. IOTA ial to be sent to those who are writ- Denver, CO 80223. Anyone interested in membership, including a subscription, ing the various section articles, and presenting a paper about occultations remains @ $7.00/year for residents of 1977 April 29 for final suNnission of during the meeting should send me a North America (including Mexico) and articles to the editor, H. F. DaBo11. proposed title, to ensure suitability $9.00/year for others, to cover the Information about lunar occuitations and non-redundancy. One NAA notice has costs of overseas air mail. However, of planets and other solar system ob- said to send such papers to Andrew European and U.K. observers should in- jects should be sent (by April 15) to Gassmann, NAA Papers Chairman in Cas- stead join iota/es, sending DM 10.-- Michael Reynolds, and reports of er- tle Rock, Colorado, but they should (German marks) to Hans J. Bode, 3000 roneous predictions, or of observa- instead be sent to me; he will send me Hannover, Bartold-knaust Str. 6, Ger- tions of unpredicted occultations, information about any occultation pa- man Federal Republic. See IOTA NEWS should be sent to David Herald, at the pers which he receives. IOTA members for optional reduced IOTA membership addresses shown in their articles in who do not plan to attend the conven- dues for those in Spanish and Portu- this issue. Material for the other re- tion could send me a paper to be read guese-speaking countries, current sections should be sent to me at the meeting, if desired. Mr. Gass- at P. 0. Box 488, Silver Spring, MD mann writes further about the arrange- Please address all subscription, back 20907, although in some (hopefully ments: "lde plan to devote blocks of issue, and IOTA membership requests to many) cases, I will send some of it to time to subject matter, rather than Berton L. Stevens, Jr., 4032 N. Ash- others (such as Raymond Finkleman, who schedule a group to a set time limit. land Ave., Chicago, IL 60613, U.S.A., also lives in Silver Spring, for oc- I would need from you (for each paper) but make checks and money orders paya- cultation tally coupons). More volun- the title, author, approximate length, ble to IOTA, or to International Oc- teers are needed to write the recur- and a brief summary. This would be cultation Timing Assoc1atfon, or to ring sections, but I expect to do IOTA needed by about July 1 so we can get Cccultation Newsletter. ' NEHS and GRAZES REPORTED TO IOTA (at the convention program organized and I 92 ° t and into print. The final papers will provided on cards by FNNA0. Van Flan- with No~y meets the sea; Finland; be collected at the convention for the dern and I have designed an improved Estonia; Latvia; Lithuania; and north- proceedings which will be published systen which will use cards generated westerrnost Russia (Here and in the later. If you have any ideas or Com- by the USNO tota) occultation program rest of this issue, we use "Russia" in ments, please let me know. for the same standard stations as giv- the narrow sense, signifying the Euro- en in the S'jp;'1emnt. These new stand- pean part of the Russian Soviet Feder- I am now working with Thomas Van Flan- ard-coverage predictions include plan- ated Socialist Republic. The Asian dern at the U. S. Naval Observatory, ets and galactic-nebular objects down part of the R.S.F.S.R. is Siberia). and others, to include predictions of to an observability code limit of 3 The R region includes most of the rest occuitations of several dozen minor (mag. 10.9 for the most favorable con- of Russia and the Ukraine east of a planets, and of occultations of many ditions) and stars to O-code limit 7 line passing through Kiev and the Cri- faint stars in various star clusters (faintest mag. 8.1), so that about 1.5 mea. and in fields which will be traversed times as many events are included as by d totally eclipsed moon, in the are given in the Supplement. Sun and The first issue of Cj'ccultation News- IjSNO total occultation predictions. moon altitude are given, as are cusp letter en Espaiiol was distributed by This will be an improvement over the and Hatts angles useful for reappear- the Institute of Astronomy of the Uni- relatively time-consuming and ineffi- ances, data not included in the old versidad Nacional Aut6noma dc Mexico cient predictions ccnputed with the coverage. Wayne Green, P.0. Box )6228, last November, as mentioned in the University of Texas prediction pro- Jacksonville, FL 32216, plans to do last issue. Guillermo Ma11Cn, Goya gram, and will ensure more complete the computations initially, but anoth- 64-11, Col. Mixcoac,. Mexico 19, D.F.. coverage.' Data for these special e- er volunteer is sought so that he can Mexico, is handling the duplication vents will be included in the regular work on other important occultation and mailing list, while Eduardo predictions for most observers for · tasks. When the program is operation- Przyby}, Ruta Naciona) 34 (Norte) 388, 1978. I will make special computer al, a note will be published in Sky 2300 Rafaela, Prov. dc Santa Fe, Ar- runs for the other observers for 1978, and Telescope offering the service to gentina is the editor and translator. and for"'the rest of 1977 for most ob- anyone who sends accurate coordinates with the help of other members of the servers (especially active IOTA men- and a long, self-addressed envelope. Agrupaci6n Amigos dc Urania dc Rafa- bers). Similar predictions for M67 The program is rather simple, involv- ela. The first edition is virtually an and M24 passages in Europe, Japan, and ing only card input. Also, we don't exact translation'of the last issue of western Australia during late 1976 need to be restricted to North Ameri- o. n., while a publication distributed have already been distributed. If the ca. Someone in Europe (or elsewhere) a few months earlier, without a name, coordinates of your station are not in could use the program to provide a was a translation of o. n. 1, #8. Fu- USNO'S files, you should send them in, similar service for their continent. ture editions probably will contain since coordinates used for all USNO Hopefully, many observers who time some extra articles which are relevant predictions must be in these files. fewer than about 20 events per year mainly to ebservers in predominantly For the 1976 events, I changed the ob- will get these predictions in the fu- Spanish and Portuguese-speaking coun- servability code limit in some cases, ture, rather than the much more time- tries, while some o. lV. articles not in order to generate more predictions. consuming USNO predictions. A volun- app)ica5}e to those areas will be If you would like a tower observabili- teer for running this program should omitted. Some of the other IOTA papers ty code limit for these special pre- preferably have a stable address to also are being translated into Span- dictions than that used for your regu- which requests can be sent. ish. Members of IOTA in these areas lar predictions, let me know. Computer who do not need to receive the Eng- time limitations may force some cut- Since 1973, the Sky and Telescope Oc- lish-language o. n. (some of those who backs in the special prediction cover- cultation Supplement has been publish- know English may want to continue to age. David Herald is reducing Astro- ed by Sky Publishing Corporation and receive it to avoid the translation graphic Catalog data to obtain equinox distributed by USNO. For next year's delay) henceforth need to pay only $3 1950 coordinates for hundreds of faint 'Supplement, neither wants to do these to IOTA in order to receive grazing stars near M23 and in fields which jobs due to manpower limitations, al- occultation and other special event will be occulted by the moon during though KMNAO still plans to prepare predictions. the 1978 eclipses of March and Septem- the tables and maps, as they have done ber, for the s'pecial USNO predictions. for many years. It seems likely now Living in the Washington, D.C. area, It is also p[anned to'include the al-' that the material which has been in- it is easier for me to find people who ready-existing data for M61 and M24, cluded in the Supplement wi'tl be pub- are fluent in foreign languages and and to add Astrographic Catalojj Data lished in The Observer's Handbook - can translate letters for me. Overseas for the Hyades (SjCC PREDICTIONS OF 1978 of the Royal Astronomical Society. observers shou)d feel free to write to PLANETARY OCCULTATIONS) and several of Canada. Since they already are pub- me Itt their Ianguage, especially for whichnon-SAOhavestarsno Yalefrom properthe Yalemotionscatalotsees lishing the data for the Canadian urgent matters. Spanish, Chinese, standard stations, it should riot be French, German, and Russian are most OCCULTATIONS OF BRIGHT NON-SAD STARS, too difficult to extend their coverage readi?y translated. .'. lb'. I, 58, #7). south to include the United States stations. It is possible that the As- The Brazilians have beat us again in Help is sought for certain Computer tronomical League also may publish the field of general publications. tasks. He continue to have problems this material. Although this means Jorge Polman, C'lube Estudanti1 dc As- with the,grazing occultation predic- that the Supplement data, which covers tronomia, ColCgio sao joiio - Vdrzea, tions. A few,of the graze computors only the United States and southern Caixa Postal 1174,'50.000' Recife, PE, have moved or otherwise 1ost'access to Canada, no longer will be available Brazil, has. published a mimeographed the computers they were using, and not free, the standard-coverage predic- 19-page paper on using total and graz- enough new computors have become oper- tions described above will be availa- ing occultation prediction's, and com- ational to provide adequate service. ble without a payment being necessary. pleting observation report forms. It Most of the computors are students, is effectively an updated and concise who are often delayed in computing and It should be noted that the European version of Luis· Eduardo dc Silva Ma- distributing.predictions by final ex- Section of IOTA does not cover all of chado's "Das OcultacOes dc Estrelas ams and other academic pressures. Europe, but does provide coverage for pela Lua", and like it, Polman's paper Graze computors neeQ access to large most of the continent, including the is in Portuguese. computers, with 32K words or more of "I", "U", and "Z" regions. The north- core storage, such as an IBM 360/40, ernmost and easternmost parts are in cdc 6400, POP-lO, or Univac 1108. I have changed my place of work again, the "XE" and "R" regions, for which recently, but this time , I have only graze predictions are not distributed moved across the hall,' to an office Standard-coverage total occultation by Hans Bode, chairman of IOTA/ES in with a window. My telephone number at predictiQn is a more modest computer Hannover, Germany. The XE region in- Computer Sciences Corporation is still job for which a volunteer is sought. cludes the following areas: Norway 301, 589-1545, but the extension is Nicholas Esposito has done this job north of a line passing through the now 596. My home phone is still 301, during the past.three years, using in- Sognefjord and just south of Oslo: 585-0989. Conceming correspondence, put data identical ·t0 that in the Sky Sweden north of a line passing through you are more likely to receive a quick and Telescope Occultation Supplement [Yland and the place where the border reply, and save me a little time, if 93
- a you enclose a self-addressed postcard, using their forms; if the extended and G.C. stars are still available self-addressed envelope (a I.png one if codes available on the !0:; fOrrs are from me. you want graze report forms), Or a not needed for a particular observa- gunned address sticker. I don't'need tion, HULUO'S forr'S are also suffi- Two computer program errors were found to be sent postage stamps - I have cient fOr IOTA. Also, it would be using observations reported by Robert plenty of them - but would .rather have helpful for ccnpiling lists like the Sandy in October. I sent program chan- one of the items mentioned "above to one below if observers would report ges and procedures for eliminating expedite things. the star's magnitude, the z of the these errors to the computors late moon sunlit, and the Cusp angle of last year. One error caused the cusp Last November, the Na.tiona} Bu'reau of graze from the predictions (many ob- angle on the ACLPPP profiles to be in Standards in Boulder, COlOrcdo, gave servers already do), quantities which error by as much as a degree for all notice that they plann'ed to discontin- are not requested on the current waning-phase grazes for most observ- ue-transmitting time signals at cer- forms. Some observers have been re- ers. The other more serious error tain of the hMV and bMVH frequencies. porting observing condition code 0 caused the graze height on the profile Most distressing for occultation ob- grazes, where no observations are ob- to be incorrectly computed. It was due servers was the pldnned"e1·iminatior. uf tained due to clouds or other causes. to the interfacing between the graze \d\dV°s 2.5-MHz broadcast, ikportant Having been on a number of clouded-out program and ACLPPP when a graze track during this time of suns·pcit minimum. expeditions myself, I appreciate know- passed over one of the special "obser- The officers of' IOTA wrote a '"letter to ing about these efforts, but space vatory" stations, which I believe are N.B.S. requesting that the 2.5 MHZ does not permit listing them. now present only in the C region (mid- transmissions be continued, aS did western U.S.A.) predictions. several other IOTA mCmbers 'on 'their · As mentioned in IOTA NEWS, we have own. We had 'planned to urge:o:m sub- continued to have some problems in Three of the grazes in the list were scribers to write to N.B.S. in this getting out predictions in time. If observed i'n the Soviet Union. The one issue, but fortunately" it is tio'Tonger you have not received predictions or on ]9)'4 September 11 was observed from necessary. In d notice dated 1977 Jan- profiles for a particular quarter and Kiev University Observatory's comet uary 7, N.B.S. announced that their your travel radii are reasonably sataion at Lesniki, 1.3 km from the bAAV and bMVH transmissions at 2.5 MHZ large, send a note to Berton Stevens, predicted limi't. The other two were would continue Unchaklged; as would Jr., IOTA Secretary, 4032 N. Ashland expeditions from Kiev, using predic- those at 5, )0·,· and 15 MHZ. Ave., Chicago, IL 60613. For North tions computed at Kazan.' The observa- American observers, he can at least tions were made partly in response to Considering the -services.. provided by supply predictions for individual a paper given by Dr. A. A. Nefediev HMNAO, USNQ, and IOTA, the American events, upon request, which you learn and others at Engelhardt Observatory Association of Variable Star'Observers about from published maps, and we can in Kazan, at the 19th"Astrometrical has decided that its Occul.tation Sec- see what problem the computor for your Conference of the U.S.S.R., held in tion .is redundqnt, arid consequently area has encountered, and can either Moscow in 1972 June.. They. urged that wi I) . disband -'i t. They wi '11' recomner,d help him or find someone else who can photoelectric 'tota? occultation and that stheir Members contact us "for mOC- compute the regular predictions. Note visual grazing occu1ta,tion observa- cultation services. If you :p1an. tO'ob- that IOTA members do not need to pay tions be encouraged in the U.S.S.R. serve an important occultabion or a for individual graze requests; there Predictions for,grazes near 22 places graze of a variable "star,'.you may want has been some confusion on this point in the Soviet Union involving about to send .a request to"the A.A.V.S.O., by sQme new members. Those who have half of the stars in the Z.C. would be 187 Concord Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138, paid more than they need to are having computed at Kazan. It is difficult for asking.what the magnitude of .the vari- their memberships extended by one or astronomers to obtain the necessary able is expected to be at the time of two quarters, as appropriate, to mini- topographi"c maps, which are cIassifiea the event, 'especially for the krge- mize financial transactions. Berton secret by the military. From discus- amBlitude Mira variables. Stevens, Wayne Green, and I have been sions at the I.A.U. last August, I un- f doing some work using jean Meeus' pre- derstand this is still a problCm, al- GRAZES REPORTED TO IOTA diction method and making other pro- though the observers"from Kiev must p n % gram changes which ultimately will re- have obtained maps adequate for pre- David hi. Dunham sult in a prediction program signifi- dictions for the events they observed. cantly more efficient than the one now , CoMdinates of observing stations are Graze reports should. be sent to my being used. When it, and the double not included in the Soviet reports, as current address, P.0. .Box 488, Si Iver star files, are operational, it should these apparently are also secret. Spring,· MD 20907, U.S.A. As usual, if be possible to improve IOTA'S predic- possibqe, a copy should also be sent tion service with fewer computors. The graze of ZC 1234 on 1976 November to HMNAO. In general,. I no longer wil7 13 is the first relatively welFOb- acknowledge" receipt Qf' observation re- Yale Catalog star position shift cal- served graze reported deep in the ports, since an. entry in the list of culations for grazes where the posi- northern Cassini region. It showed observed grazes serves this. purpose.. tion source is Z.C. or G.C. were dis- that the actual limb is near' thC mean Of course, if you send me a report cussed on p. 74 of o. n. 1, #8, and in limb, and that both Watts da'ta (about which is not listed, please 'let me earlier issues. Wayne H. Warren, Jr., 2" below the mean limb) and an obser- know. However, I wij 1· acknowledge re- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - vation of a 74-mag. star on 1974 SEpt. ports if either; the report is. nOt,- com- Code 671, Greenbelt, MD 20771, phone 12 which indicated a 'V-high mountain, plete, or a self-addressed envej.ope or 301, 982-4604 or 474-0814 (home), can were wrong for.the area. The position postcard is endosed. (I" don.' t' care if now do these calculations for observ- used for ZC 1234 is from the good- a stamp ,is. not included).,! or a gunned ers in eastern Canada, the northeast- quality"N30 catalog. Data were sent to address label is enclosed. or more re- ern and southwestern U.S.A., and over- the computors to incorporate the ZC port forms -am neUed ( in wMch case, seas. John Phelps, Jr. will continue 1234 observed data 'into the ACLPPP either a gunned address,.jabe1 or a . , to do these calcu7ations for observers profiles for 1977, and the 1974 data, long self-addressed envelope shOuld be in the U.S.A. and Canada north of lat- used for most of the 1976 ACLPPP pro- enclosed). Owing, the I.A.U. General. itude 38° N. and west of Ohio, while files ih that area, were removed. We Assembly in France last 'August,- an in- Robert Bailey will do them for the had no problems with HhlV reCeptiorr formal discussion of occu1·tation work, south-central U.S.A. and Mexico, and during the graze, but according to the especially 'plans for future work, pwas' Thomas Campbell, Jr., for the south- NBS Time and Frequency Services Bulle- attended by workers from the national eastern U.S.A. Since Warren has the tin No. 229, about 2 hours after the almanac offices involved. Workers from catalogs in his office, and has a pro- graze, there was an oUtage for'·over an HMNAO voiced objections tc the C1jr±, gram to do the calculations with his hour at the xcy frequency Of 5 MHZ. rent)y used IC.TA .graze rcpoTt·: foms, HP-67 calculator, he can do the calcu- The observations showed the need for noting that they delayed their reduc- lations quicker than the others, and multiple stations spread over a graze- tions. The new .graze report forms, . .. can serve as a backup for than, espe- height range of at least 2.", and a f rom which ,the data can be- keypunched cially when time is short. As usual, a reasonably bright star for good obscf- di rectl y, will 0v€Eccxne. these pr.ob-., self-addressed envelope or postcard vations and good star position, for ) ems. In t,hte- meantimew when. possibl e, . should be sent with any rewests. AGK3 charting the Cassini regions. Grazes observers should send IMNA0. reports ·' shifts for northern hemisphere Z.C. in the still poorly Qbserved northern
P ..
"< 94
Cassini region are still occUrrinS!, so Star % hopefully more observations like those " " C Ap Mo Dy Number !qaA Sn), CA Location Sta ,T,m, C gn. Orqani zer st HA b of ZC 1234 will be made this year. An- other error in Watts' data is shown by 1972 the graze of 2C 3051 on 1976 October 1 30 203915 9.1 OE Chicago. IL I 2 15 Robert Hays 3, when the librations were lat. "6?7 and long. -6?0. The observations show- 1973 ed that the valley at bl.A. 175?4 is 2 13 0882 5.0 77' -S Chicago, TL I 6 15 Robert Hays nearly ):'0 deeper than the ACLPPP prO- 6 22 3320 5.3 69" -N 8.Krinitcha,Ukrn. I 7 8 A. Osipov file showed. This will be incorporated 9 6 2692 5.7 7)" S Chodruchi,Moldavia3 I) 8 A. Osipov into the ACLPPP data later this year. 197C 60 observers manned 25 stations near 9 I] )010 8.0 33- N Lesniki, Ukraine I 2 48 A. Zhitetski Natori, Japan, for a graze of Spica on [)0 2) 2759 3.6 36+ 9S Croydon, U. K. 3 13 Norman Wright 169-27] 1376 .July 5, but they were clouded 10 2) 2759 3.6 36" 9S Petworth, U. K. 4 )2 75 H. C. Nightingale? 169-27 out. As reported in NEW DOUBLE STARS, 10 2) 2759 3.6 36+ 9S Itchenor, U. K. 3 )1 12 Patrick Moore? 169-27 mo%t expeditions in the U.S.A. were 10 2) 2759 3.6 36+ 9S Crawley, U. K. 2 4 20 J. Chaµnan? 169-27 mre sUccessfu) for the )976 Aug. 28- 10 2} 2759 3.6 36" 9S Gravesend, U. K. 2 2 21 M. Absalorn? 169-27 ?'8 graze. About 60 stations near Vero 10 21 2759 3.6 36+ 9S Bi1lingshurst,UK ii 26 20 Leslie Morrison? )69-27 f:each. Florida. netted over 100 tim- 10 21 2759 3.6 36" 9S Portsmouth, U. K. 4 8 15 R. Id. Arbour? 169-27 in'm according to expedition leader 10 2) 2759 3.6 36+ 9S Hayling Is., U.K. 2 7 15 E. Goddard? 169-27 1kro)d Povenmire. making it the most 10 21 2759 3.6 36" 9S Bognor Regis, UK ) 2 3 G. T. Buss 169-27 5Ucc.e".",fu) of the year. Any observers who hcivc· not done so yet are urged to )975 send hitn their timing reports as soon 10 25 0913 5.2 75- -2S Calabasas, AZ I ) 7 15 Richard Nolthenius 4N186 44 d". µo'isible so that the observation report can be ccmpleted. A movie of 1976 the nearly grating occultation was ob- I 23 1853 4.9 63- 3S Yohkaichi, Japan 1 I 6 (T. Hirose) tdined with an Air Force camera at 3 5 0299 6.3 }7+ 9N Kohriyama, Japan 3 )4 7 5 (T. Hirose) Upc' Cmaveral. Thunderstorms ruined 3 10 0913 5.2 61+ N Trumbull, TX I 3 9 20 Paul Newman Pcju] Mcih·y'S expedition for the same 4 7 )040 6.2 44+ 9N Continental, AZ I 20 7 15 Richard Nolthenius 2S 10 63 'jrmte near Houston, Texas. About two 5 4 0985 6.9 20+ N Gluckstadt, MS 1 0 Ben Hudgens >10S hours before the graze, the home of 5 7 Z09206 7.6 49+ 9N Rothville, MO 1 2 6 15 Robert Sandy 3N 9 74 one of the observers was hit by a tor- 5 9 )623 5.4 76+ BN Kainan, Japan 4 22 8 6 Yasuo Yabu nado. A bigger disappointment for the 6 6 167) 7.6 57+ 2N Bucyrus, KS I ? 7 15 Robert Sandy 0 3 58 Houston observers was the rain which 6 20 Z00391 9.2 41- 2N Lake Arrowhead,CA ) 3 5 15 Richard Nolthenius 4S359-29 fciru'd cancelation of their plans for 7 22 Z03463 8.5 22- -ON Green Bay, WI 1 I 3 25 Berton Stevens, Jr.9N358-30 a s|)('ctdcular crescent-moon graze of B 8 4 2302 2.9 67+ 8S Sapporo, Japan 6 50 7 6 Toshio Hirose 0171-)9 Cd|)ricorni during Thanksgiving eve- 8 4 2303 5.1 67+ 8S Obihiro, Japan 8 36 7 5 Homichi Kimura ning. The southern-limit profile was 8 5 2436 6.3 76+ -N Gisborne,N.Zealand1 1 20 B. A. Sinton rugged, promising many events for al) 8 8 2889 7.1 97+ 22S Lake Irvine, CA 1 7 7 15 R. Nolthenius C2S169-58 129 stations which would have been 8 18 0617 6.6 44- 3N Toyohashi, Japan 3 8 5 Toshio Hirose fully equipped. Another graze of the 8 19 0730 5.) 37- -3S Cotton Center, AZ I 6 7 15 Richard Nolthenius 0177 43 star near Eouston in June is not so 8 20 204575 7.4 28- - Shomberg, Ontario 1 3 5 25 Robert Pike favorable. 8 20 Z04809 7.5 26- -1 Colfax, CA ) 8 6 31 Bill Fisher 8 21 Z06175 8.3 )8- -IS Farmersville, IL 1 5 6 25 Berton Stevens, Jr.4Sl80 62 The drama involved in grazes was well · 8 28 )925 ).2 15+ -IS Bunkerville, NY 3 7 8 11 Walter Morgan illustrated by my experience with the 8 28 1925 1.2 15+ -IS Grand Canyon, AZ 2 4 8 15 Richard Nolthenius 0]81 21 graze of p Sagittarii (2C 2826; see 8 29 1925 1.2 15+ S St. Petersburg,FL 5 33 6 32 Thomas Campbe11,jr. 3S also NEW DOUBLE STARS) on 1976 Novem- 8 31 2259 6.7 32+ S Yass, Australia 2 3 2 )5 David Herald C5S)68-30 ber 26. Snow fell as we drove across 9 4 Z20376 9.0 8)+ 15S Marana, AZ 1 6 5 15 Richard Nolthenius CI69A9 eastern Ohio, and a traveler's advis- 9 17 Z05452 7.9 44- 3N Marley, IL 1 2 25 Berton Stevens, Jr. 353 62 ory was in effect when we reached Co- 9 18 1072 6.2 34- 4N Sewalls Point, FL 2 4 25 Harold Povenmire 356 66 lumbus. The weather forecast was poor, 9 18 1106 3.6 31- Moapa, NY I 1 4 20 Walter Morgan with broken clouds expected into Illi- 9 28 ZI5455 9.0 24+ 9S Tucson, AZ 1 )1 6 )5 Richard Nolthenius nois, especially disconcerting since 9 28 Z15478 6.5 24+ S Mirage, CA 1 2 7 25 Keith Horne the moon altitude would be less than 9 29 Zl6378 8.1 34+ 9S Margate, FL I 2 25 Harold Povenmire 10°. I telephoned Mike Flick in Cin- 9 29 2573 7.3 42+ IDS A1berton,S.Africa 6 72 9 15 Jan Hers C5S)68-58 cinnati; we decided to join forces 9 29 ZI7761 7.3 44+ 8S Rafae1a,Argentina 1 3 6 Eduardo Przybyl south of Indianapolis, where the wea- 9 30 2629 6.3 46+ 11S Pleasnt P1ains,AR I 3 6 20 Homer DaBo11 75168-51 ther prospects were a little better 10 3 3051 7.0 76+ 9S Tuscola, IL 4 17 7 15 john Phelps, Jr. 5Nl75-60 than near Dayton, Ohio. The southern )0 4 3187 6.2 85+ S Kramer Jct., CA 1 4 8 20 Keith Horne half of the sky cleared completely as 10 13 0764 5.0 77- 5S Louisburg, KS 3 8 7 15 Robert Sandy 0189 50 we drove across Indiana. After meeting 10 13 0764 5.0 77- 5S Tightwad, MO I 2 8 25 Berton Stevens, Jr. 0190 50 the observers from Cincinnati, we se- )0 13 0764 5.0 77- 5S Rolla, MO 2 4 8 20 Joseph Senne 0190 50 lected an AM radio station to use for 10 14 Z04874 7.6 71- 5N Harmony, IL 4 5 6 25 Hnmer DaBo11 C4N355 60 a time reference for those without 10 14 Z04969 8.3 70- 6N Elburn, IL 2 4 5 20 John Phelps, Jr. C356 60 short-wave radios and went to our sta- 10 14 0940 5.7 66- 2N Ebenezer, Austrl. i 5 5 6 Simon McMi1)an C 0 52 tions. The temperature was below 20° 10 16 1156 8.7 45- IN Downers Grove, IL 3 5 6 13 John Phelps, Jr. C359 71 F., quite cold for that time of year. 10 76 Z07637 9.2 50- 5N Sahuarita, AZ 1 3 5 15 Richard Nolthenius C353 70 I set up my equipment in the van at 10 16 207689 8.) 49- -2S Marana, AZ 1 2 7 15 Richard Nolthenius ON184 70 Joan's station, then drove to my plan- 10 16 Z07757 8.9 48- 3S Sahuarita, AZ 1 10 7 15 Richard Nolthenius ON188 70 ned site in the village of Fairland. )0 17 1281 6.4 39- N Red Mountain, CA 2 3 9 17 Keith Horne Hhen I gotpthere, I saw that trees, 10 77 1281 6.4 39- -IN Fort Scott, KS 3 3 7 15 Robert Sandy 8N358 71 buildings, lights, and people would 10 17 7281 6.4 39- -2N Rolla; MO 1 4 7 20 Joseph Senne pose problems, so I drove to an alter- 10 18 1397 5.5 30- S Pocahontas, MS 1 3 5 25 Ben Hudgens nate site which was 0.3 mile south of 10 23 Sun -27 0 N Bena11a,Australia } 1 Ian Grant a certain intersection and 3 miles )0 23 Sun -27 0 N Cooma, Australia 1 26 Robert Price from Fairland, though time was fast 10 23 Sun -27 0 N Mt. Hudson, " I 3 Bryon Soulsby running out. Fortunately, abandoned 10 23 Sun -27 0 S Ma11acoota, " 1 22 David Herald railroad tracks crossed the road at 10 23 Sun -27 0 N Narooma, " I 8 John Newman the planned location, for good posi- 11 1 Z23944 8.1 72+ ns Picacho, AZ 1 20 6 15 Richard Nolthenius tional reference. I arrived only a 11 10 0871 6.9 89- 4S Tucson, AZ 1 ) 7 15 Richard Nolthenius couple of minutes before the graze was ' 11 13 1234 6.1 67- 7N Belzoni, MS 2 7 7 25 Ben Hudgens C355 71 expected to start. I took the tele- 11 13 1234 6.1 67- 7N Starkville, MS i 5 7 15 Wayne Coskrey C355 71
"% ·" e . 95
Sta r : " " C km di.tioned automobiles. [Ed: This may " µLSl 9i Number m Sn.1, £A, Location St' I!!! e El 0"c,anizer St, K b cause no problem in dry climates,. but we can recall losing some easy timings 1976 because of condensation on our 41-cm 11 13 1234 6.1 67- 7N Starkville, MS I 5 7 15 Wayne Coskrey C355 71 mirror, which had been kept in air- 11 13 )234 6.1 67- 5N Faiscin, NG 5 9 7 25 Davie! Dunham C355 71 conditioned surroundings until an hour 11 13 Z0224'J 7.6 67- 6H Chilton, hll I 1 4 20 John phelps, Jr. C357 73 or so before the telescope was assem- I) 14 1359 5.) 55- 6S Hollywood, FL 3 16 20 Harold Povenmire bled outdoors.] 11 16 2)06)6 2.6 34- -IS Lafayette, i:t 1 3 4 25 Berton Stevens, Jr . 176 57 11 19 2)2975 7.4 6- 25 Grandy, MN I 68 15 Rick Binze1 Examination of the list of grazes will I) 19 ZR975 7.4 6- 3S Stew Auburn, HI 1 6 6 20 James Fox 35179 12 show that Richard Nolthenius is the I) 19 Z12975 7.4 6- 3S Greenville, HI 317625 Homer DaBo1I ]ON180 12 first to succeed in observing three LI )9 )971 5.8 6-. 4S Rice Lake, HI I 4 8 20 James Fox 0181 12 grazes in one night. on )976 October I] 25 2?26 4.0 16' 6S Proctor, OK 6 29 8 5 Robert Sandy 0170-60 16. The first and third grazes were )1 25 2?26 4.0 16' 6S Bunker, m 1 27 9 joseph Senne 0169-60 observed from the same location, while )1 ?5 2226 4.0 16' 5S Farmington, MO 1 7 8 20 Homer DaBoll 35170-60 the second one was about 40 miles 11 25 2226 4.0 16+ 5S Fairland, IN 5 33 9 6 John Phelps, Jr. 0170-60 away. Time separation between the suc- )1 25 X$26 4.0 )6" 5S Marion, Oh I 4 415 Gary Ringler 170-60 cessive grazes was about two hours. ii 27 3199 6.8 43+ Anholt [.,Denmark i 01 6 N. Wieth-knudsen The third turned out to be an unex- ll ?2 Z23681 LLD 46" S San Martin, CA 6 9 6 20 Gerald Rattley )5S pected double. A Houston triple-graze 12 12 209903 8.4 70- Fremont, CA I 3 7 25 James Ferreira attempt last September was clouded )? 14 Z)l]44 7.1 50- 3S Thtmsboro, IL 2 2 6 25 John Phelps, Jr. 3Nl82 47 out. Homer DaBol), St. Charles, IL, I? 15 ZII253 8.5 38- 4S Greenbush, HI 3 9 6 20 Homer DaBoll 7N182 34 and John Phelps, Orland Park, IL, in- I? 15 ZIl857 9.0 37- -IN Picacho Peak, AZ I 2 515 Richard Nolthenius 8N354 31 dependently made plans to observe 12 16 Z12664 8.1 36- San Jose, CA I 1 5 20 James Van Nuland three grazes in one night in Missouri, )2 17 ZI3534 7.5 )7- 4S Cleveland, MO 21) 715 Robert Sandy 6SI82 0 in late January. It was clear, but 12 24 3051 7.0 11" 3S Fulton, CA 4)1 610 James Ferreira roads leading to the area were closed 12 24 3051 7.0 )1" 3S Grass Valley, CA 4 308 10 Bill Fisher 2N due to snow frcim a recent blizzard. 12 25 3187 6.2 19+ 4S Priest Valley, CA 1 17 8 Douglas Dunham 12 25 3187 6.2 19" 4S Bowles, CA 9 36 9 25 Richard Nolthenius 2S John Phelps sent me the most imagina- ' 12 26 224157 8.7 28' 'rS Westminster, CA ) 4 5 25 David Dunham 0174-48 tive Christmas card I've received in a 12 26 Z24157 8.7 28+ 5S Orange, CA 1 2 715 Richard Nolthenius 174-48 long time. It shows the three wise ]2 27 Z?4817 8.5 37" 35 Paxton', IL 2 8 6 20 John Phelps, Jr. C}78-39 men, with the caption, ". . when they ' saw the star, they rejoiced exceeding- )977 ly. ." (Matthew 2:10). John carefully ) 5 1040 6.2 100" 56N Springfield, VA 2 2 3 16 David Dunham typed in: ". . it would have been a I 26 201?56 8.9 40' Jacksonville, FL 1 I 32 Karl Simons long ride for a cloud-out. ." I 30 0718 6.1 76+ -N Franktown, CO 4 14 8 20 Paul Asmus 2N 2 2 1106 3.6 95'-105 St. Paul, MN 2 8 7 15 James Fox 0179 69 During the graze of 1976 Sept. 29, 2 10 Uranus 5.9 58- 4S Drexel, MO 4 10 8 15 Robert Sandy N]82-11 Harold Povenmire reported "a large black snake was nearby." Good thing it scope and radio OUt. pushed the but- If the star had been twice as bright, didn't mimic \d\dV! tons on the radio and recorder, and about mag. 5.5, the graze would have began observing. Ten seconds later, been seen readily with my 25-cm re- Based on later more comprehensive re- the star disappeared at the first high flector, I believe. This also might ports, the number of stations and tim- mountatn. Data from other stations have been surmised by David Herald's ings for two expeditions should be showed that I missed no earlier observations of ZC 2159 and 2)60 last changed: In o. n. #7, p.69, 1975/11/L events. I saw 16 contacts of the May under rather similar conditions, star 1815 at Bumble Bee, AZ, 2 sta- bright star with the dark limb cf the described on p. 88 of the last issue. tions, 17 timings; and o. N. #9, p. crescent moon, making it one of the These observations set some useful 86, 1976/6/18, star'3370, 3 stations, most spectacular grazes I have seen. limits on what can be achieved with 7 timings. In o. n. #8, 1976/3/9, star All equipment worked. After the graze, submarginal grazes. 769 was observed at Beachwood, OH, not we met John Phelps, who had driven Beachwood, MO. If the name of the or- down from Chicago and observed inde- A relatively dry flow of air from the ganizer is in parentheses, he reported pendently nearby. He agreed to measure Arctic has persisted in eastern North the observations, but the actual or- the coordinates for all our stations, America this winter and past autumn. ganizer is not" known and is probably so he is listed as expedition leader. Although bad for faming, astronomers someone else. The two graze observa-· Robert Sandy is preparing a reduction have benefited with more clear nights tions by Robert Hays were recently profile of the results of all expedi- than usual. The colder-than-usual found by reading some correspondence tions for this graze; more detail of weather poses special problems for at USNO. USNO is currently not proces- the profile which we probably will in- graze observers. Besides the ordinary sing graze observations, so reports corporate into ACLPPP should result. precautions which one must take when should not be sent there, but rather traveling and observing during winter, to me and/or HMNAO. The 1972 january I observed two threshold grazes early tape recorders especia17y must be pro- 30 graze was during a total lunar in January. The first was for 7.5- tected from the cold. When traveling eclipse. mag. ZC 629 by a 90%-sunlit'moon on to a graze, they should be kept in the January 2. The temperature was IS" F., heated passenger compartment of the [With the listings in this issue, the with some wind, and at 15° altitude, car. The grease in a tape recorder number of expeditions reported for the the seeing was about as bad as I've left in the trunk of a car may freeze graze of g Sagittarii (ZC 2759) on ever seen. The star was seen a few solid, making the recorder inoperative 1974 Oct. 21 reaches 10 (see p. 24, #3 times before the graze, but as it got even after being worn under an observ- and p. 74, #8). The expedition shown close to the moon, although the cusp er's jacket with a cord around the in brackets is the one previously men- angle was 15°, it was lost and'not neck for half an hour before the graze tioned on p. 74; corrected figures are seen again. The sky was very clear, (this is a good way for keeping the given. A question mark after the or- but the glare and turbulenCe were too recorder in working order while ob- ganizer's name indicates that we are much. For the Jan. 5 graze of ZC 1040, serving, assuming that it did not get not quite certain that he was actually the full moon was high in the sky and too cold during the trip to the ob- the organizer. The information for the 174" from the sun.At this elongation serving site). The observers for the 8 expeditions newly reported was taken and at the 56° cusp angle, the termin- graze of Spica in Nevada last August from the article "Grazing Occultation ator would be about 3" from the limb. 28 had the opposite problem, observing of Xi Sagittarii," Journal of the The dark separation really was evi- from the desert during the hottest b.a.a., 87, 57 (Dec. 1976). Shifts dent, but the star was o"veNhe1med by part of a sumer afternoon. The tem- ment,seen bybutal)pleaseexpeditionsrefer toarep. in24a ?tabu-rec- glare from the moon, so that observa- perature was 106° F., probably a rec- tion was nearly impossib1e,-a)though ' ord for a graze observation. Fortun- lar listing and final paragraph of' the seeing acd transparency were good. ately, the observers a)7 had air-con- text of the article) for the shift and 96
- its interpretation.] Nelson used a 6" at 250X so the star ern coast of Brazi), where the sun showed the first diffraction ring. His [A letter from James Fox contains some mount is driven. He is sure his times will be more than 18" below the hori- interesting comnents about the Feb. 2 are accurate since he timed on the D zon, and Pal'las about 40° above the bright-limb graze of a Geminorwn (ZC or R of the diffraction ring. He western horizon. The nearly east-west . 1106): ". . really fascinating to see claims the ring cuts in and out very line passing through Sa)vador is the the i)]uminated peaks projecting from sharply, just like a dark limb low predicted line from which the central the limb. I believe all the structure power event, thereby avoiding irradia- occultation will occur; but errors in detail shown in the predicted profile tion effects. . ."] Pallas' or the star's position could was visible through the eyepiece. . . shift the actual path far to the north or south of this predicted line. Four PREDICTIONS OF PLANETARY OCCULTATIONS, David hi. Dunham other parallel lines show the central occultation path if the combined er- The data in the list below, for occultations predicted by Gordon Taylor, HMNAO, rors are O:'S and ):'0 (resolved perpen- are in the same fomat as the list of 1976 planetary occultations on p. 79 Db): dicular to Pallas' motion) to the north and south. At the nearly north- )977 south line passing near BelCm and Epoch 1950.0 Possible nighttime AsunciOn, the sun will be 6" below the . Da.te_. U.T. object SAD No. Mag. R. A. Dec. area of viSibility horizon; twilight will be too strong to the west. The expected path width, jan 21 07h04" Palias 176953 9.4 gh 4"0 -24°38' Pacific 0.,Chile,Argentina Jan 21 )6 52 Paths using the above diameter of Pa11as, is 176943 9.4 9 3:7 -24 34 New Zealand, Australia, 574 km at the i:'O N line, 595 km at Indonesia, India Feb 28 22 Nysa +19°888 9.6 8 38.6 +19 43 the O:'O line, and 708 km at the i:'O N. Africa, N. Atlantic 0. Mar 10 20 55 Uranus 158687 8.8 14 35.4 -14 44 line. Broken lines are the boundaries hi. Australia, Indonesia, of Brazilian states, whose capital Japan, Asia, Africa Jul 8 21 4) Pallas 99401 8.3 10 58.5 +12 19 c"ities (not always named) are shown by Eastern Brazil (see map) +'5. Circled dots mark national capi- Oct 3 10 28 Saturn 98871 8.3 North America tals. The Mercator projection map scale varies with latitude; five hori- Unfortunately, due to the limited time cember 1976 issue of R Muscae, Derek zontal lines show the scale at 10" (of 1 can work on occultations, this arti- hlallentine pointed out that the possi- latitude) intervals from 0" to 40". cle is being written after the first bilities of occultations of faint two events, and will be distributed stars by minor planets are substan- I hope that Brazilian observers will after the first three, or possibly tially increased when the objects pass be able to organize well for this fav- four, events. However, in regard to in front of compact star clusters. He orabje event, which occurs on a Friday the first two, since Pallas was magni- mentioned that 1792 Reni crossed NGC evening. Some observing stations tude 7.2 at the time, the combined 2168 on 1976 November 18-22 and that should be established in cities where brightness including the star was only 535 Montague traversed NGC 2168 on no known observers now live, especial- 0.1 mag. brighter. Therefore, the drop 1976 December 14-16. Dr. J. U. Gunter, ly between Recife and Rio dc Janeiro, in brightness when the occultation oc- Durham, North Carolina, has noted that to give better coverage. Volunteers curred could not reliably be noticed 9%-mag. 44 Nysa will make its station- interested and able to coordinate ob- visually, but could be detected photo- ary-point turnaround from retrograde servations on a national scale are electrically. Presumably, Gordon Tay- to direct motion in the Praesepe Clus- sought. Also sought are improved as- lor notified potential photoelectric ter, with enhanced probabilities for trometric data to enable computing a observers in the areas about the e- occultations during late February and better prediction. At present, with a vents. I sent word about the occulta- an of March. Gordon Taylor has found i:'O error possible, there is only tion of SAD 176953 to Cerro Tolo'lo,. only one occultation during this time, about one chance in seven that a given the only observatory with high-speed given in the list above on February observer in eastern Brazil will see an photoelectric capability in the possi- 28. The star involved is not in the occultation. Some improvement could be ble zone of observation (La Plata and SAD; the number given is the star's made soon by obtaining a current ac- other Argentine observatories were AGK3 number. I plan to compare numer- curate position of the star with re- north of this zone.). ous faint star positions from the As- spect to the surrounding SAD stars. trographic Catalogs (see below) with But an accurate position will not be James Elliot and other astronomers an ephemeris supplied by Gordon Taylor possible until a few days before the from Cornell University have made (who got it from the Institute of The- event, when the minor planet and star plans to observe the occultation of oretical Astronomy, Leningrad) for can be photographed on the same plate, SAD 158687 by Uranus from the Kuiper more occultations, and wil? distribute due to systematic star catalog errors. Airborne Observatory over the Indian predictions for observable events, During the week before July 8, I hope Ocean. They have shown that, in the probably in the next issue of o. n. that several plates can be exposed and far infrared, the spectral-type K- measured, so that the combined predic- star is brighter than the strong meth- The best occultation of a star by one tion error can be reduced to less than ane absorption bands of Uranus. Conse- of the first four minor planets is the Pa17as' angular diameter, as was done quently, a rather good signal-to-noise one by Palias on July 8. By then, Pal- at the last minute for the occultation ratio can be achieved for studies of las' visual magnitude will be 9.1, so of Kappa Geminorum by Eros in 1975. Uranus' diameter and atmosphere. The that combined with the star, the mag- Either Gordon Taylor or I could com- expected star diameter, O:'OOO58, will nitude will be 7.9. The 1.2-magnitude pute a last-minute correction for the be covered by an object at Uranus' drop at disappearance should be very July 8 occultation from the astromet- distance and with its velocity in O%, noticeable visually. Pa11as' diameter ric observations, and telegraph or so that photoelectric data should be is expected to be 573 km, in which TELEX the expected shift of the path recor¢ed with at least this resolution case, the duration of a central occul- in arc seconds to the national coordi- for studies of probable spikes that tation will be 1654 and its angular nator(s). Local observers can use the will occur in the light curve, like diameter 0:28. Photoelectric observers map to interpolate where the last-min- the ones that have been recorded dur- should note that the diffraction ute path is expected to be. For exam- ing occultations by Jupiter and Nep- fringe separation will be about 330 ple, 0:3 N would have it passing over tune. R. Greenberg, Planetary Science meters or 0!'00016, which will be cov- Recife and 0'25 S would have it pas- Institute, Tucson, Arizona, has exam- ered in 050094 in the case of a cen- sing over Brasilia. Also, keep in mind ined the possibility of an occultation tral event. From data recorded at this the estimated uncertainty, and the by one of Uranus' sate1?ites, and has time resolution, the diameter of the width of the path, for locating ob- found that there will be none. The star could be determined. Observers servers to obtain the best data. closest will be Miranda, whose shadow should also watch for stepwise events will pass 12,000 km north of the indicating a close double, unlikely A finder chart shows the location of earth's center at 23h34m UT. This ap- for this spectral type KO star. SAD 994'07 in easterr Leo. An arrow in- pulse will be visible from India, the dicates the direction of motion of Middle East, and Africa. The map shows the possible region of Palias. The faintest stars on the visibility. The event should be visi- . large-scale chart are 9th magnitude; In an article on p. 20-22 of the Dc- b)e somewhere from the popu'lous east- ZC 1598 and ZC 1608 are mag. 6.¢ and 97
- S |.Zc" ^ ' 9:" i;: :: ' ":" j:" 6.7, respectively. Incidentally, the occUjtation path crosses most of the W b':or%e:o'dn Atlantic Ocean, but Pallas sets before it reaches the west coast of Africa. T5' ,:" ""e;<""°·, Kaj'e'm e ": :: - I have been computing astrometric ephemerides of minor planets, as de- scribed on p. 85-86 of the last issue, and will soon send magnetic tape data to Gordon Taylor with accurate astro- i " p^,r) O metric positions at daily intervals '""" ' ' mz. O"- for several years into the future for i" ' '. ,' " =: 50 minor planets. During the assembly of the International Astronomical Un- ,'K333ub,' - ..-"""=:3"""""-j>>" ~ ,eiCy 0 ion in Grenoble, France, last August, ; ° """ " ,' I ~T~-~,.. . a working group of Connission 20 (Po- I Lu f 7" ', "";h:"" sitions and motions of minor p)anets, P I ° / OI i+ ( W" " , CC5 X comets, and satellites) was establish- _ ed to coordinate planetary occultation : ( / , ) /° ' ' Nital work internationally, mainly for as- : a r } , ) i L ·r Z ,~ — , trometric support and the rapid dis- ' ° ( t p' " ) — '% _1 r ) p " ' _ i\ /' i g j — Reel f e semination of data. As mentioned above, accurate predictions usually % ' I 4 — _ _ I r "
" " 0 O David hi. Dunham " d I i t i Iq" FINDER CHART jj6 DO" lOh 5o" I have recently learned of another as- teroidal occultation predicted byhGo"iii FOR SAD 99401 RIGHT ASCENSION AND DECLINATION ON EQUINOX 1950 don Taylor. On 1977 March 5 at 2 34 U.T., minor planet 6 Hebe (diameter
"%
.V 98 perhaps 190 km) is expected to occult still an uncertainty large enough that ed the event visually with the 1.3-me- the 3.6-mag. primary of Ganm Ceti as the event could be seen from Califor- ter and not only did not see an occul- seen from Mexico, nominally between nia and Arizona. I made arranggnents tation but also said that the images latitudes }7" and 20° north. However, to use the Federal Telephone Systen at appeared di.stinct even when closest. predfction uncertainties are probably Goddard Space Flight Center the eve- The seeing was superb, and this sug- great enough that the event could ning before the event, to contact many gests the centerline of the shadow was occur in Central knerica or the U.S.A. potential observers, telling than that probably O:S or more away from KPNO, Gordon Taylor plans to improve the there was a chance to record the oc- to the south, prestmably." prediction with a recent photographic cultation. Conditions were excellent observation Soon. at most of the major observatories in James McMahon at China Lake, Califor- the Southwest, most of which attempted nia, was about the same distance from A passage of 22 Ka)1iope through the to record the event with high-speed the predicted line as Kitt Peak, and Plefades is described on p. 127 of the photoe)ectric equipment. Unfortunate- also reported no occultation. So Nol- February 'issue of Sky and Telescope. I )y, none of them saw the occultation. thenius' "D" was probably a temporary compared an accurate astrometric Nimerous visual observers similarly seeing fading, possible on even good ephemeris of the minor planet with only saw the two objects merge with no nights, but we can not be certain that Eichhorn's highly accurate catalog of occultation occurring. Dr. Clark Chap- he did not see an occultation since no Pleiades stars to the 12th magnitude man, Planetary Science Institute, Tuc- observations were made north (with re- which was used for the special USNO P- son, Arizona, organized an expedition spect to the path) of Tucson. A photo- catalog predictions for lunar occulta- which observed the appulse near Kino electric attempt at Flagstaff failed, tions a few years ago. I found no dc- Bay, Mexico, at about longitude 112° and nobody observed visua))y there. cultations, the closest approach of west, latitude +284". This was near Variable clouds prevented observation Kallfope to any Pleiades star being the predicted northern limit, but they at Las Vegas, Nevada, and skies were 10".(horfzontal parallax less than 4") saw no occultation, although they were overcast in northern California and the southernmost observers. Richard northward. In any case, during this The lunar occu)tation of Uranus and of Nolthenius and john Hayes observed the occultation, the minimum three tim- SAD 158687 in North America on Febru- event from long. no" 57' 36:2 Id., ings, made from at least two widely ary 10 have asswned special importance lat. "32" )3' 43:'9, height 2405 ft., separated locatfons, neCded to obtain for possibly improving the relative in Tucson, Arizona. According to Nol- a measurement of the diameter of Pal- positions of the two objects, which thenius, "Weather conditions were per- las, were not obtained. could be crucial for observation of fect, with no detectable scintillation the occultation of the star by Uranus due to atmospheric turbulence. Trans- Eduardo Przybyl, Rafaela, Argentina, in March. Preliminary astrometric ob- parency was also excellent. Hayes ob- reports that, during December, c)ouds servations indicate a I" error in the served with an 8" f/6.5 Newtonian at and rain prevented observation of oc- star's position, more than an Earth 73 power while I used k 6" f/8 Newton- cultations of two AGK3 stars by 354 diameter at Uranus' distance. ian at 96 power. At 12 59m2954 UT Eleonora predfcted by Gordon Taylor (±052, p.e. 056 applied) I saw the and of the passage of 535 Montague OBSERVATIONS OF combined object fade quickly by about across NGC 2168. An observation of the PLANETARY OCCULTATIONS 0.4 magnitude. Hayes comented imedi- occultation of SAD 79100 by Saturn's ately that the image did indeed look satellite Rhea is described In the NEW David Id. Dunham fainter; however, due to some problem DOUBLE STARS section. with bis vision at the time, he did On p. 85 of the last issue, an obser- not see the step fading. The object OBSERVATIONS OF M67 PASSAGES vation of an occultation of SAD 80046 remained at this reduced brightness by Saturn's satellite Iapetus by for the next 5 seconds. At 12h59m36s David W. Dunham Strauss in southern Brazil is describ- ±2s I readjusted my telescope, after ed. Prof. Jose Manoel Luis da Silva which I no longer could tell if the Three passages of the moon across the reports that observations from two lo- image was still at reduced brightness. open cluster M67 in Cancer have been cations in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil During the next several minutes, no observed since the last issue of o. n. were also attempted. Observing condi- stepwise brightening was noticed by I computed and distributed predictions tions were good, but no occultation either of us. Hayes comented at 12h of occu)tations of numerous faint was seen. The northern limit of the 59m41s that as near as he could tell, stars during these events to many ob- occultation apparently passed between the image still appeared to be at the servers, using the U.S. Naval Observa- Curitiba and Porto Alegre. reduced brightness, although it was no tory's total occultation prediction longer unambiguous. He confirmed that program, rather than the less-effi- According to predictions by both Gor- the image appeared fainter for at cient University of Texas prediction don Taylor and me, the path of the oc- least several seconds after the 'D', program used for last June's passage. cultation of SAD 153844 by Pallas on but after that it was unclear as to October 10 last year was expected to whether it had brightened or not. He Observations of occultations of stars be Just off the California coast, but guessed that he probably would not in and near M67 which I have received with an uncertainty large enough that have been able to see the anticipated since last August 15th are summarized the event might be observed from land. stepwise brightening." in the table, whose format is similar The path also crossed Mexico, but aft- to the one on p. 88 of the last issue. er sunrise a short distance east of If Pallas' diameter is 573 km, a re- Under % Sunlit, "+" denotes waxing the Gulf of California. In iota Spe- cent estimate, it would subtend ms phase (all observations dark-limb dis- cial Bulletin #2, distributed several that night and a central occultation appearances) and "-" signifies waning days before the event to observers in would last 1956. The change in magni- (all dark-limb reappearances). Under western North America, I described - tude at an actual occultation should Telescope, the aperture in cm is given what to expect during the event, and have been about 0.7. The path extended and L is for reflector, R refractor. that an improvement in the prediction rather steeply from northwest to would be att«npted. During the morning southeast, so Nolthenius was the Richard Nolthenfus' observation of the of October 8, Dr. Arnold K1~1a ex- northernmost observer with respect to passage of 1975 October 28 is describ- posed an astrometric plate with both it (the separation should have been ed on p. 70 of o. n. 1, 17; it sparked the star and minor planet, at Lick Ob- nearly 0:8 at closest approach). The my interest in passages across clus- servatory.'He measured and reduced the positional error should not have been ters other than the Pleiades, ljyades, plate during the day, and phoned the so large as to put Tucson near the ac- and Praesepe. But while going over re- results to me that evening. Working tual southern limit. At Kitt Peak, 50 ports of Soviet observations, I found most of the night at the U.S. Naval km or om in the sky closer to the that A. Zhitetski had,timed occulta- Observatory, I assmbled computer pro- predicted occultation, Don Wells saw tions of 4 SAD stars near 6'!67 one si- grams which used K)ano1a's data to no occultation using photoelectric e- dereal month earlier. Sincheskul's ob- compute a new path. The results were quipment. He writes, ". .. there was servations at Poltava during 1975 that both Pallas and the star were a- no difficulty at all in observing the March 23 are rmarkable considering bout 0:4 north of their expected plac- appulse due to the dawn, although by the brightness of the moon; the tele- es. Consequently, the original predic- 15 minutes later it might Eave been scope he used and the observing condi- tion was virtually unchanged, with impossible. In addition, Geh"z observ- tions must have been exceptionally 99
" E good. ed if skies had been clearer. Also, ed Nakamura and Hieth-knudsen during nearly all timings were made at less the following two M67 Passages. If Price's and Senne's observation re- than. 20" moon altitude. Observing con- ports had been received in time to be ditions were considerably worse due to See Richard Binzel's article for a .fncluded in the table on p. 88 of the the urban surroundings of the U.S. Na- list of occultations across M67 and last issue, they would have ranked 4th val Observatory, where Van Flandern other galactic-nebular objects during and 7th, respectively. Hazy skies pre- observed. Poor conditions also hamper- the first half of )977. vented more observations at Rolla. For the same reason, Robert Sandy was able % Tele- Non Non to time only ] event at Kansas City, Date Sunlit Observer scope Total SAD BD Missouri (rather than the 2 given in the p. 88 table). So )ast June's pas- 1975 March 23 81" B. Sinchesku?, Poltava, Ukraine, USSR 20R )1 6 4 sage remains the best observed, with V. Mazhorovski, Poltava, Ukraine, USSR BR 3 0 0 81 timings, 36 of non-SAO stars and 18 V. Vaselev, Leningrad, Russia, USSR )6R 3 2 1 of non-BD stars, reported by 12 ob- A. Zhitetski, Kiev, Ukraine, USSR 24R 2 0 0 servers. )975 Oct. ) 23- A. Zhitetski, Kiev, Ukraine, USSR 24R 4 0 0 I was fortunate fn obtaining, with Wayne Warren's help, permission to ob- )976 June 3 24" Ronald Price, Gar)and, TX, USA 31L 9 8 5 serve last SCptember's 1'167 passage Joseph Senne, Ro11a, MO, USA 20L 3 0 0 wfth the 91-cm Cassegrain reflector at Goddard Spaceflight Center's Optical 1976 Sept. 20 15- David Dunham, Greenbelt, MD, USA 91L 15 11 10 Facility. Joan Dunham, Curtis McCraken Wayne Warren, Greenbelt, MD, USA 31L 2 0 0 and Rick Ski)1man provfded va?uab1e Thomas Van Flandern, Washington, DC, USA 62L 1 0 0 assistance. The value of using a large aperture was emphasized by the fact 1976 Oct. 17 36- Katsuyuki Nakamura, Shizuoka, Japan 40L 1 0 0 that Warren was able to time only 2 reappearances with a nearby 31-cm re- 1976 Nov. 14 59- Antonio Salazar, San Fernando, Spain 15R 4 ? ? flector. Skies were hazy, with patchy N. blieth-knudsen, Tisvildeleje, Demark 30L 4 ?? cirrus c)ouds, so that numerous events were missed which could have been tim- double stars. This angle is of most POSITION ANGLES FOR OCCULTATIONS to which angle listed in the predic- use for equatoria1)y mounted tele- tions is the appropriate one for the scopes. David Herald observer's method of detemining an- gles. To avoid any confusion, if it VA. This is the "Vertex Angle". It, Occasionally there have been reports exists, I give here the meaning of as with the PA, is measured anticlock- to IOTA of successfu?1y observed dc- each of the four angles provided in wise from north through east. However, cultations where the observed position the predictions, CA, PA, VA, and HA, the zero point in the VA scale Is at angle of the event differed widely together with an indication of when to the apparent vertex of the moon as from the values listed in the USNO use them. seen from the observer's site; Le., predictions. Almost invariably, in from that point on the moon's limb these reports, the actual time of the PA. This is the "Position Angle" of farthest from the horizon. This angle event corresponds very well with the the event, and is the fundamental an- is primarily for use with altazimuth- predicted time. In these cases, it is gle derived from the prediction calcu- mounted telescopes, where the mounting almost certain that the apparent dis- lations. It is measured from the north makes the moon's vertex easy to lo- crepancy is a result of either obser- point eastwards, 0° to 360". It is ex- cate. vational uncertainty or confusion as actly ana1agou$ to position angles for CA. This is the "Cusp Angle". As the LUNAR OCCULTATIONS OF MINOR PLANETS IN 1977 name suggests, it is the angle measur- ed from the cusp of the moon. Conven- This information was prepared by H. M. Alc. Detailed predictions will be tion decrees that it be referred to Nautical Almanac Office, with % sunlit available later for users of large the nearest cusp (Le., is never more added by David Dunham, using data from telescopes, especially for photoelec- than 90°), with the cusp identified the American Ephemeris and Nautical tric observers. thereafter. Usually it is N or S, but near new and full moon, 'It may be E or Approx. % Id. Also, it is positive against the Date U. T. Sn1 Minor Planet MaF Nighttime Area of Visibility dark limb, negative against the bright. This angle is very convenient Mar. 12 jgh 46- Parthenope 11.4 Indonesia, New Guinea, N. Australia, to use, as the cusps provide a conven- and east to Fiji Islands. ient reference point. However, near Mar. 25 17 30' Europa 12.2 S. E. England, Central Europe, South new and full moon, particularly full, Western Asia. it is extremely difficult to accurate- Apr. 9 12 65- Parthenope 11.0 South Pacific Islands (Cooke). ly locate the actual cusp, thus bring- Apr. 24 18 32+ Eleonora 11.7 Cape, South Africa. ing a large degree of uncertainty into Apr. 29 00 74" ||ygiea )0.7 N. E. Canada as far west as Nova Sco- where one should look, particularly tia, Greenland, Western Europe, Id. for reappearances or for very diffi- North Africa. cult events. May 7 01 83- Parthenope 10.5 South Atlantic, South Africa, Kadagascar. KIA. This is the "Watts Angle". Used May 23 04 22+ Elektra 13.'3 South Pacific Islands (Cooke). correctly, it overcomes the problems May 26 13 54" Kygiea 11.0 China, Japan, Philippine Islands. Bor- of the CA. Essentially, the Watts an- neo. gle is measured anticlockwfse, north June 23 06 36" F|ygiea 1}.2 Hawaii, Nest Coast Central North Amer- through east, with the zero at the V ica. moon's north pole. Thus the Watts an- June 26 18 74+ Metis 10.9 Antarctica. gle can be used to relate the location July 24 05 54+ Metis 11.3 North Pacific - Hawaii to Mexico. of the occultation directly to the July 27 13 88+ Davida 12.2 Australia (except extreme N. Points), moon's surface features. Most conven- Tasmania, N. North Island New Zealand, iently, this is done by marking, on a and east to Fiji Islands. map of the moon, a scale starting with Nov. 5 06 40- 1Tis 10.0 Brazil 0" at the north pole, through 90° at Nov. 14 19 )7+ Laetitia 11.9 West Coast Central Southern Africa. the lunar west [Ed: west in the IAU, Dec. 7 19 13- Psyche 12.5 North East Australia, New Guinea, Fiji rather- than classical, sense] point Islands. (near Oceanus Procellarum) and so on Dec. ]3 DO 8+ Laetitia 12.0 South West Canada, Western U.S.A. through south and east (near Mare 100
Crisitn). The Watts angle for an dc- cujtation and were clouded out, etc.), time to have them on the shelf the cultatfon when referenced to the map data collected, where the event was first week in April. Two models will then shows where the occultation will observed, the data, any "unusual" hap- be available: i) WV on 5, 10, and 15 occur. All one has to do then is to penings (arrested by police, etc.), MHZ, and 2) CHU (Canadian Time Serv- locate features near that point. But a the event itself (Don't leave me gues- ice) plus two channels of hf'hlV (probab- word of warning: To accurately esti- sing!). Good luck and good observing. ly 5 and 10, but I'm not certain). mate the location of the occultation Each model will sell for $31.95, but point using this method, one should "T"- .,. :.' " · .., <'-., -"·:';.k p I ' the CHU model will only be available take into account, at least approxi- ' ' ,, t-;~< ,' ..- - ',. ' 7.:','; _ g _.: ' ,:.. :; -",- :"> "",.?,.."!.<:'b/ in New England. Those in other parts mately, the lunar librations, which of the country who go on expeditions have the effect of moving the apparent "~ (i,' ,"r"—;, to New England can order the CHU ver- locations of the features on the lunar '-"""." m?"." .":""N~~,- sion from the Boston warehouse: Radio disc. The Iibrations are listed in the , ," ':: , · ,:"' . ' · "· ' I Z" ¢·>,:"'""·.'. '".: b\""' -':'"/'"" " " /1 Shack, 100 Mazzeo Dr., Randolph, MA predictions. Space fs too limited here 'rl ,pa ,'\-.: ' : .:":u, ,..'?, .>"'" I ' ";;'X " 7" 02368, ph. 617/963-7410. The 3-channe1 to give a detailed explanation of how ,'1"~/' 1:':>, e:: ·""\ x33 \ )'::':..,"L" ).:·\" , "'-"4-:. , .". Cb7.·f>j ""\ \:: \ " hlhlV model should be stocked in all to do this. [Ed: but see o. lV. 1, 18, store locations across the country, second column (Y2)] Ky·9?7'"i"",";:l- '. '·,,"" \. obviating the need for special order. Those with further questions should LUNAR OCCULTAT10NS OF PLANETS contact Tom Harris at Radio Shack, < ':S':' 'µ"'M)}Z 2617 West 7th Street, Fort Worth, TX Michael D. Reynolds 76)07, ph. 817/335-371}. [The maps showing the regions of visi- 1976 July 21 - Occultation of Jupiter bility of lunar occultations of plan- [Ed: Now that the N.B.S. has agreed to and satellites Europa, Ganymede, and ets are reprinted by permission from continue to broadcast time signals on Iq by the moon. Three observers, G. the Japanese Ephemeris for 1977, pub- 2.5 MHZ, there is renewed motivation, Blow, B. Menzies, and T. Stewart were lished by the Hydrographic Department for those capable and willing to do ab7e to make visual observations of of Japan.] so, to put together their own version the reappearances of Jupiter and its of the Timekube. See the article: C. moons Europa, Ganymede, and Id. The MORE ON A DIGITAL STOPWATCH Caringe11a, "Building a Three-Channel observatfons were made near Auckland, Time Receiver," Popular Electronics, New Zealand. The observers had hoped Richard P. Binze) 33, #6, p. 33 (Dec. 1970). At today's to record photoelectrfcally the reap- prices, a complete 3-channel receiver pearances of the moons, but were una- I recently purchased an electronic can be assembled for about $25 to $30, ble to do so, due to a number of dff- digital stopwatch from Edmund Scien- including a metal case. Add about $5 ficu)tfes. The map is on p. 72. tific Co.(Cat. #1671, @ $49.95). Sill- to $6 per channel (two coi)s and a conix, Inc., is the manufacturer. crystal) for each additional channel 1977 January 1 - Occultation of Jupi- It reads in increments of oh, and desired. An Elgin, Illinois-based ter and satellites Callisto, Iq, Euro- group is designing a set updated from pa, and Ganymede by the moon. Observ- conforms to the stated accuracy speci- the 1970 original, and Occultation ers in two neighboring states of Bra- fication of 0.002% (about OS07/hour). Newsletter will publish an article., zil were able to make visual observa- It has an operational specification including circuit diagram, when the tions. At Rio dc Janeiro, 0. Tavares, down to -25° C. I checked it, outdoors new prototype has been completed.] 0. Chaves, P. Alonso, and V. O'Avila at -18" C, recently, and also at -22° observed the D of each of the five ob- in a deep freezer, and found that it AUDITORY ELECTRONIC OCCULTATION TIMER jects. At Atibaia, A. P. Martins ob- remained accurate. served the D of Callisto and the D and Clifford J. Bader R of JUpiter, and B. A. Borghi observ- - One of the nicest features is the ed the D of Callisto. At Campinas, M. split function, which is in addition With the advent of crysta]-contro11ed F. 01ivera observed the D of Jupiter, to the start, stop, and reset func- timepieces utilizing digital display, while the D and R of jupiter and the D tions. The split function freezes the it has become possible to dispense of Ganymede were observed by J. C. F. ' display while the internal timer con- with the inconvenient and unreliable Lobo, J. C. R. Vieira, and R. Previ- tinues. A second operation of the radio time signal for both grazes and talli. Also at Campinas, J. Nicolini split button resets the display to the total occultations. Not only is the attempted to observe these phenomena, total elapsed time since the watch was accuracy of such watches adequate (± but was foiled by microclimatic condi- originally started. Thus, once the OS2/day or better), but the error is tions around his 4th-floor apartment. watch is stai"ted in synchrony with a systematic and easily accounted for; \dhlV signal, an observer could time an furthermore, the digital display makes /)))))))) unlimited number of events using the possible setting and synchronization split button, recording the event time to better than 051. For occultation innediately after each press of the timing purposes, the only problem in button, and then repressing the split using such a timepiece is that of button to return the display to the transferring the time to the tape or actual time. I recently timed a six- other medim used to record the event. event graze this way, because hlklV re- I have solved this problem by con- ception was very poor. structing an electronic time-mark gen- erator, which can be synchronized or The $49.95 price is not outside the corrected to within a few milliseconds price range of high quality mechanical of the standard, and which provides ,-' ," .!°,'?d"'":":f'i'"':;<, , ', , stopwatches, and the price probably auditory tone bursts marking the sec- will drop, as has been the case with onds and half minutes. The tone bursts calculators and digital wrist watches. may be transferred to the tape along :t€:!=':'%"::kiji" I recomnend this stopwatch highly. with the observer inputs, or may be utilized directly for eye-ear timing. 1977 February 10 - Occultation of TIME OUT FOR TIMEKUBE Uranus by the hmn. With the ntnber of The timer uses complementary metal-ox- expeditions planned for the Uranus oc- Mark Trueblood ide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated cultation, some data should be col- circuit logic, which is now starting 1ecte& If you are able to observe the According to Tom Harris at Radio Shack to appear at low prices on the surplus 0ccu)tation, please send a copy of corporate headquarters, they are not market, and which offers very low cur- your report to me at 610 Florida Blvd, now marketing Timekubes, but they will rent drain and uncritical supply-volt- Neptune Beach, FL 32233. Include in start selling them again next spring. age requirements. The unit includes an your report (and all reports of occu1- They are having trouble getting crys- AC supply for line operation, but will tatfons of planets, at least those tals (thanks to the flood of CB or- work with any battery supply of 6 to sent to me) a list of a?1 observers ders). but they expect to start ship- )2 volts. No attempt is made here to (let me know if you atterrpted the dc- ping from Taiwan on February 28, in show circuit details, which I witl
P 10) j W provfde to Interested parties if re- cil lutes eye-ear interpolation. ~ until the minute begins, and then turn postage fs supplied. t released; the timer is then advanced 8 m'
m...u,4.7,y to compensate for reaction time. A block diagram is shown. The time t
base is a crystal oscfllator operating .. Originally built to supplement radio 2&:.µ"» + ' . p . , ;a'm at 409.6 KHZ. The basic clock frequen- ' my m: "' ' [c:cee signals for eye-ear timing, and later cy is dfvfded by 212 · 4096 in a bin- ·7M ·: < ' - · ' m modified to include the chronograph 7 i:" :0 AX ':, '.. y:cc ary ripple counter, producing pulses WE .: E ; ::. .-. -· :u 0>m'€a feature, the timer has accounted for _,, , -: : ' % P 6 at 10 ms intervals, and fs then fed to 7 ; &y. -: ii'i: ··f i'-, ""S some 150 total occultation timings and control circuitry which permits the CC -: : : L W < m two grazes. With the addition of a pushbutton addftion or deletion of ~ digital watch, it has become the key sIngle clock pulses, in order to ad- d* < Rem >n p to the utilization of a completely jUst the timing to that of the stand- portable and uninterruptible time re- ard. Each time the "advance" button is Extreme frequency accuracy is not es- ference. depressed, one extra pulse is added sential, since the accumulated errw between two of the regular clock puls- during an operating period can be de- GRAZE LAYOUT MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES es; when the "retard" button is push- termined readily, and corrections ap- ed, one clock pulse is omitted. It is plied, or periodic advancement or re- H. F. DaBo1) thus possible to adjust the timer for- tardation can be made. Consequently, ward or backward in 10 ms increments, no voltage regulation or crystal oven Finding one's observing coordinates which is about the minimum fnterva1 is included. Surplus low-frequency can be as simple as setting up on top detectable by ear-ear, eye-eye, or crystals are available at very low of a 1andmrk which appears on the to- eye-ear comparison. A decade divider prices (75¢); the nearest available pographic map of the area, and scaling further reduces the clock rate to 10 frequency is 409.722 KHZ. The oscil- the coordinates directly from the map. pu)ses/second. Another decade counter lator circuit has sufficient frequen- As there seldom will exist an ideally produces a one second interval and al- cy-trim range to pemit the desired spaced group of surmountable land- so provides ten sequentially activated frequency of 409.600 KHZ to be reach- marks, a multi-observer expedition outputs of 051 each. The first (zero) ed, although even without triming, usually has to employ some sort of output is used to gate the tone oscil- the error of about + 1s/hr is tolera- ground measurements (but see D. A. )ator, which therefore produces a Qsj ble. The timer can be set to a radio Howe, "The Feasibility of Applying the burst comnencing on the second. Al]" or telephone time signal by ear com- Active TvTime System to Automatic Ve- ten outputs can be switch-scanned to parison; this method is particularly hicle Location," Navigation 21, 9-15 move the timing lamp flash to coincide accurate with the ldhlV format, since (1974), which was reviewed by David with a recorded event or with a time the count may be advanced in 10 ms Dunham, on p. 89) to refer the observ- standard. All counters are reset to steps until the tone burst just oblit- ing positions to mapped landmarks, at zero by a pushbutton.Oivide-by-six and erates the seconds tick. Used in this least one of which usually will be a divide-by-ten counters are cascaded to mode, it also permits accurate meas- straight road. If one has calibrated generate the minute. The output of the urement of digital watch error, since his pace or stride carefully, stepping last counter is "hfgh" for 30 seconds, the timing lamp flash may be varied to off the distance is satisfactory, if and "low" for the next 30; it is used coincide visually with the watch dis- the offset is not so great as to allow to select either the basic tone or the play and the tenth-second readout ob- the accumulated error to grow too tone frequency divided by two. The tained from the scanning switch. When large. While an error of even up to gating is arranged so that the tone is synchronizing to the watch without 100 feet, including the error of the low (about 400 Hz) during the first time signals, several options are map, itself, may be allowable, most of half of the minute and an octave high- avai1ab)e; the timing lamp may be set us try to hold the measurement error er (BOO Hz) during the second half; on zero and the watch error accounted to something like 5 to 10 feet. this scheme provides the observer with for in the data reduction, or the tim- minute and half-minute markers, and ing lamp may be offset to compensate In the "Geodetic Graze Program", accu- provides a continuous indication of for the watch error. Alternatively, racy criteria were more stringent. Map which portion is in progress. The QSj duration furnishes a crip beat and la- eye-ear synchronization may be used. error was largely eliminated by refer- In any case, the reset button is held ring positions directly to U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey horizontal control 1977 OCCULTATI01YS OF BRIGHT NON-SAD STARS, Richard P. Binzel station markers. Although we were not required to do so, my group once form- As was reported on p. 58 of o. n. i, (#7), there are perhaps several dozen stars ed a 3-man survey crew, using transit brighter than mag. 8.6 which have not been included in the SAD Catalog and hence and steel tape, to set out stakes di- are not included in the USNO total occultation predictions. The reason for their rectly related to the h.c.s., for an exclusion stems from lack of knowledge of their proper motions. However, they expedition of about 20 observers. Some are all included in the Yale Catalogs. Although these stars have not yet been of the stakes served as tables into included in the USNO total occultation predictions, they have been assigned USNO which tacks were driven, at locations reference numbers prefixed by the letter Q, and special predictions for the Q known to an accuracy at least 3 orders stars have been computed. Listed below are predictions for favorable (moon less of magnitude better than was needed than 70% sunlit) occultations of Q stars mag. 8.) and brighter, for )977. Ob- for even a geodetic graze. Predicta- servability codes were assigned without considering sun and moon altitudes. bly, the sky was clear enough to bring out all the observers, but with some 1977 USNO % SN MN streaks of cloud in the worst place. Date U. T. /Ph Ref No .0. !!asz Sn.1_ Al. al. ca ,pa_ Place Jan )6 )9h57'?3/R 000024 7 8.} 10- 8 61N 308 For another geodetic graze expedition, Tokyo, Japan we used a bicycle whee) (and front Jan 17 18 56.9/R 000036 7 8.0 4- - 4 )3 30S 220 Melbourne, Australia fork) whose circumference was accu- Feb 14 01 01.7/R 000035 7 8.0 19- I) 64N 298 Pretoria, S. Africa rately known, having been calibrated 01 12.9/R 000035 7 8.0 19- 8 82S 264 Capetown, S. Africa against a 200-foot steel tape only 02 25.9/R 000036 7 8.0 19- 29 67S 249 Pretoria, S. Africa about one hour earlier. The wheel was Mar 12 09 05.8/R 000024 6 8.1 51- -I) 21 88N 276 Deer Lake, Newfoundland used to mark off whole numbers of rev- Mar )3 00 32.2/R 000027 6 8.1 44- 24 46N 314 Capetown, S. Africa olutions, and was supplemented by a 06" 37.9/R 000034 6 8.1 41- 52 61N 299 Recife, Brazil U-foot steel tape for fractional .06 54.2/R 000035 7 8.0 41- 37 74S 253 Buenos Aires, Argentina parts of revolutions measured along Apr 9 07 18.5/R 000027 5 8.1 67- 65 31N 327 Buenos Aires, Argentina the road, and for offsets from the Sep 20 I} 34.5/0 000027 6 8.1 52+ 44 56S )24 Melbourne, Australia centerline. That night, the sky was as 11 48.8/0 000027 6 8.1 52+ 35 83S 98 Brisbane, Australia clear as I ever have seen it. All ob- 16 40.5/0 000035 6 8.0 55+ - 9 82 62S 117 Pretoria, S. Africa servers saw a miss. oct 16 20 49.7/0 000023 7 8.1 21+ - 9 44 53N 55 Recife, Brazil oct }7 17 20.5/0 000027 7 8.1 30+ 48 86N 84 Pretoria, S. Africa The bicyc7e whee) technique is quite 23 49.7/0 000035 7 8.0 32+ 17 64S 113 Recife, Brazil practical, either as a seconda"y Oct 18 00 47.9/0 000036 7 8.0 33+ 29 18N ]5 Miami Springs, Florida standard for measuring, or as a means
"'< ]02 of interpolating between lancMrks, cision odometer went about 70,000 or which detracts from its utility in but if one man is trying to do the 80,000 miles before I had to replace helping to pick positions for markers. layout by himself, he might have to it. The replacement outlasted the Pon- With this device, and with the next carry a knapsack full of station mark- tiac, but I did not bother to remove one described, the shaft should remain ers along the route, and still would' the odometer when selling the car, as attached to the hubcap only when mak- have to hike back to his car. Of the type of attachment of the speedom- ing a run, to avoid excessive wear, course, the fine measurements, with eter cable to the instrument case is corrosion, and accidental mechanical the steel tape, may be neglected, for different in the newer cars. The ac- damage. This is an inconvenience, but ordinary grazes. cessory screw-on branch cable connec- by the same token, it is much easier tion is not compatible with the clamp- to adapt the arrangement to a differ- An advantage of using a cable is that on speedometer cable connections now ent car than it would be to transfer the electrical breakouts, for the ob- used. Currently, I don°t know of any and reinstall a precision odometer. servers' signaling devices, are locat- source of accessory precision odome- ed at predetermined intervals, so that ters, with either screw-on or clamp-on Recent?y I have finished building and if the cable is laid along a straight arrangement. Those who still have the making dry runs with an electronic de- road, establishing the location of any instruments find them quite useful. vice which I feel will be more useful breakout makes ft possible to calcu- kith direct reading to a hundredth of than any of the devices mentioned late the positfons of al} the others. a mile, one can estimate to a thou- above. It is a solid-state counter, There is also the associated disadvan- sandth (about 5 feet). By taking 3 or triggered photoelectrica7ly. The car's tage of relatively inflexible spacing 4 sets of readings on landmarks and cigar lighter receptac7e is used as of observers. The Milwaukee cable station markers, and averaging the re- the R-volt power source. The photoe- trailer is equipped with a wheel, sults, one can be pretty sure that the lectric remote unit is mounted on a flexible shaft, and mechanical counter locations are known accurately enough. hubcap, which is the base on which an arrangement for measuring from a land- For measurement purposes, the readings axial shaft is mounted. A thin circu- mark to a breakout, to a precision should be considered to be in units of lar a7uminum shield is mounted concen- considerably smaller than one foot. unknown length, to be used to interpo- trically on the shaft. Bearings on the Sfmilar devices are available commer- late between landmarks, rather than shaft support a housing which contains cially, for mounting on passenger vc- being accurate in terms of miles or a comercially available interrupter- hfcles. As the wheel is neither power- kilometers; for help in deciding where type infrared emitter-receptor combin- ed nor braked, degradation of accuracy to lay out station markers, the mile ation. Within the housing, the outer by slippage between wheel and road or kilometer values are good enough. portion of the circular shield rotates surface is negligible. Backlash in these devices can be con- between the poles of the photoelectric siderab7e, so one must not back the device, and cuts off the light beam In the techniques discussed below, car during a measuring run. Accuracy except when it reaches such orienta- slippage can affect accuracy, but will is significantly degraded by resetting tions as to interpose some drilled not be assessed here, as this factor to zero during a run. holes between the poles. The counter depends only on driving habits and on will register as many counts per rota- condftfon of' tires and road surface. More precise and accurate, although tion as there are holes drilled in the Indexing, or the ability to judge when less convenient for layout purposes, shield at the appropriate radial dis- the vehic)e is exactly opposite a sta- is a mechanical counter attached to tance. The housing could be allowed to tion marker or landmark, is neglected. the hubcap of the car. The first such maintain orientation by gravity, but installation of which I am aware was there is a good possibility that pen- Two observers with an automobile are completed by John Phelps, about two dulum action could produce some spuri- equipped to do a graze layout. At the years ago. The rotating input shaft of ous counts when the car is braked to a first landmark, a chalk mark or piece the counter is made to lie along an stop, so I prefer tQ maintain orienta- of tape is put on one tire, so that extension of the axis of rotation of tion by connecting the housing to a the more athletic (or less agressive) ' a wheel of the car. The shaft of the fender, by means of some rubber bands of the two observers can audibly count counter is usually off-center with re- and a padded C-clamp. The greatest whole revolutions as he trots along- spect to the mass of the counter. With source of inaccuracy of this device side the car. It is not even necessary the counter supported by the shaft, seems to me to be the possibility of to calibrate the wheel, as long as a the wheel, hubcap, and shaft of the adding two extra counts if the car is final landmark, near or beyond the end counter rotate together, and gravity allowed to roll backward slightly, of the string of observing stations, keeps the counter itself in a roughly after coming to a stop; it will count is counted. constant orientation with respect to only upward, whether the car is moving vertical. The count goes up or down, backward or forward. However, if one The ordinary odometer in the instru- depending on the side of the car cho- deliberately backs, and carefully ment panel of an automobile can be of sen. My counter is probably typical, notes the number of counts added while help in deciding where to put station in having a single-thread worm drive a backing, and subtracts twice that num- markers, but it is not accurate enough R-tooth worm gear. As the ten inte- ber, the final figure still will be to use as the basis for calculating gers of the least significant column accurate. their positions. There are those who are incised on a cylinder which is i · ' feel that it can be accurate enough if solidly attached to the worm gear, it the stations are placed only at loca- takes 12 rotations of the car wheel to ·rorb:H.TLRmpTE7 I scm:rrmw0 tions corresponding to certain rela- make a difference of 10 in the count
tionships between the right-hand digit registered. With my car4 each unit DE~ XUIQE P€¢AO€ 0KAX of the odometer (the tenths regi'ster) change represents about 8.6 feet, and , cnu'lr cmrta GOb%TER ~a and the cut-out in which it"appears, I can measure about 1.6 miles before
such as having the top of the figure having to add another digit to the K3 Kj m Kg CCCQOEA. DE:Q¢E0. D£C%cn- - appear to be just in contact with the left of the readout on my 3-digit N:ver >:pIu uw£e mute top of the cut-out. 1'!y experience in counter. Again, one can estimate to a most 5!"^:'[- le:st slra:rl- , checking this technique against accu- tenth of an integer, for precision of ,cn: m:r . uuw d g t rate devices indicates that it is not better than a foot and accuracy cer- T.smm01SPLAt 7.sLrn:?i5".u ?.S€fX.7TQISPLAv 7-$€rmr0:5nAT unusual for the error to be between 50 tainly better than 2 feet. As above, and 100.feet. the readings should be used only for I chose to drill 5 equally spaced " " "" interpolating between landmarks, but holes in the shield, and to have a 4- Precision odometers, graduated in hun- with this device, a single set of digit display on the counter. Then dredths of a mile (and I think, hun- careful readings should be adequate. each count represents about 174 inch- dredths of a kilometer) have been Backing the car during a run is per- es, and the car goes about 2.7 miles available, from time to time, as missible, as backlash is insignificant before the counter recycles through built-in options on s'xne cars, and as in relation to the accuracy tolerance. zero. As there can be no interpolation accessories for others. David Dunham Carefu1)y resetting to zero during a between counts, the most likely loca- brought this to the attention of graze run degrades accuracy only insignifi- tion would be represented by the num- expedition leaders in 1972. I had one cantly, if at all. It is inconvenient ber displayed plus I} count, with prob- installed in the 1968 Pontiac Tempest to have to stop the car and step out- able error of \ count, or about 4.3 which I drove until recently. The pre- side, in order to read the counter, inches. ]"he probable error in a dis-
"% 103
" 4 tance determined by subtracting one cost about S40 at retail. Case, con- Cc be affected by low temperatures, readout from another will be a little nectors, reset switch, and miscellane- and it is improbable that a cold hub- less than d third of a count, or about ous hardware added about 515. Prices cayr'ounted unit will provide pulses 55 inches. As with the mechanical mentioned include series 74 IC'S. so far from specifications as to af- counter, the readings should be used whose performance is guaranteed only feet the count. At a temperature of only for interpolating between land- from 0' to 70" C, as compared with over 70'C, proper operation of a marks, but a single set of readings -55' to +125° C, if series 54 IC'S counter would be the least of my wor- should be adequate. No inaccuracy is were used. As the counting unit is ries! I would be happy to furnish any introduced by resetting to zero. kept inside the car, almost on top of details desired, including a circuit the defroster vent, it is not likely diagram, to anyone interested. The cabinet in which the counting unit is mounted had to be modified to make UPDATE TO 1975 NOVEMBER 18-19 ECLIPSE OCCULTATION TALLY it wedge-shaped, so that it can sit conveniently on the dashboard, where Raymond Finkleman it is useful both in making the nec- essary measurements and' as an aid to The observers listed below are acknow- arrived too late for inclusion in the choosing observing station sites. The Iedged to have made occu)tation obser- earlier article (Occultation Newslet- display, with its 0.3-inch figures, is vations during the eclipse of 1975 No- ter, 1, 87), the tally should be iipw very bright and easy to read under any vember 18-[9. Since their observations dated as follows: lfghting conditions except when bright sunlight falls directly on the numer- Non Non als; a great improvement, in that re- Rank Observer Total R's SAD BD spect, over both the precision odome- ter and the mechanical counter. 11.5 T. Z. Dworak, Fort Skala, Poland 5 2 0 0 14.4 M. Kurpinska, Fort Skala, Poland 4 } 0 0 I chose to put together a straightfor- 14.6 J. VanderMeulen, 1Aognum, Netherlands 4 I) I 0 ward system including 3 integrated )4.8 V. Kapkov, Kazan, USSR 4 0 0 0 circuits (decade counter, BCD decoder- 15.5 M. Winiarski, Fort Skala, Poland 3 1 I 1 driver, and 7-segment GaAsP display) 20.5 R. Boschloo, Ahnen, Netherlands 3 0 0 0 for each of the 4 digits, plus a 22.5 J. M. Kreiner, Fort Skala, Poland 3 0 0 0 Schmitt trigger to sharpen the input 36.5 V. Borovskic, Kazan, USSR 2 0 0 0 pulses, rather than to use a strobe 38.4 A. Kulak, Fort Skala, Poland 2 0 0 0 system, which would have been more 38.6 A. l'tesherikov, Rizan, USSR 2 0 0 0 complicated, but more economical of 38.8 J. Mietelaski, Fort Skala, Poland 2 0 0 0 energy use as well as in cost of com- 4).5 M. Shpekin, Kazan, USSR 2 0 0 0 ponents. The bare-bones electronic 48.5 Anonymous, Oh jm 22517, 51° 13' 21:'7 I 0 1 0 parts (lC's, sockets, resistors, ca- 49.5 I. Chuginov, Kazan, USSR 1 ' 0 0 0 pacitors, and photoelectric device) New totals for all 76 observers: m ST '57 T5
1975 TOTAL OCCULTATION TALLY able to be reduced from the tape was (More than one observer at the site is the observer's initial and first three possible.). If only the observatory or Raymond Finkleman letters of the last name. hie attempted station name is given, there is prob- to determine the station and full name ably more than one observer at that The 1975 Total Occultation Tally is of each observer from a 1974 publica- station. After the location there may the most comprehensive listing ever tion. Since some observers were not be an asterisk indicating photoelec- published. It includes 494 observers included in that article, there are a tric observations. If not a]) observa- of 35 countries and a total of 8788 . few Japanese observers who are not tions were photoelectric, the number observations. completely identified. Early in Janu- which were is after.the asterisk. This ary we received the Polish observa- nwnber is followed by a coma and The data for the listing were consoli- tions listed in Acta Astronomica ("Dc- another number indicating reappear- dated from many sources with the as- cultations of Stars and Planets by the ances recorded phs)toelectrical)y, if sistance of se.veral people. The major Moon Observed at the Cracow Astronomi- there were any. An unknown number source of observers was the tape list- cal Observatory in the Years 1974- of photoelectric observations is in- ing of observations received by Thomas 1975" by A. Michalec, Acta Astronomi- dicated by a quote mark after the as- Van Flandern from H.M.N.A.O. in Novem- ca, 26, 387). Incidentally, that pub- terisk. After the observer's name ber. The tape required quite a lot of lication is the first major astronomi- are given the city, state, province, reducing as stations were only identi- cal journal to reference Occultation republic, or country of his principal fied by city and coordinates, and not Newsletter, for their 1975 November observing site. In some cases, the by name. Van Flandern was able to ma- eclipse occultation observations. country is listed before the city. As chine match the H.M.N.A.O. tape with noted earlier, some observers could be the U. S. Naval Observatory address The ranking of the observers is by the identified only by coordinates. Longi- and observer listings for half of the value of their observations. This was tude is listed first (+ = west) in stations. Richard Nolthenius keypunch- determined by the formula V = D + CR, hours, minutes, and seconds of time, ed approximately 100 observers' cou- where V = value, D = total number of then latitude (+ = north) in degrees, pons onto cards. The coupon program disappearances observed, R = total re- minutes, and seconds of arc. will be continued for the )976 tally appearances observed, and c is a cor- (A coupon is included with this is- recting factor'. The correcting factor This is the first time that "Total sue.). In November, we received the is the ratio of RID for the complete Non-SAO Stars Observed" have been in- Czechoslovakian Bulletin listing their listing. For this tally, one reappear- cluded in the listing. It should be total occultation observations and in ance observation is the equivalent of noted that this column may be incom- December the Russian Bulletin was for- 3.03 disappearance observations. If plete since non-SAO stars are not in- warded to David Dunham from Dr. A. two or more observers have identical cluded on the tapes supplied by H.M.N. Osipov, Kiev, Ukraine, U.S.S.R. Mac- values, they are listed alphabetical- A.0. and the Japanese. Donald OBservatory has a photoelectric ly. Observations identified by obser- total occultation observation program. vatory only are listed after the named It is our hope in the future to use The observations for 1975 were report- observers, alphabetically by city. For mainly the H.M.N.A.O. tape of observa- ed to us in two parts, "Photoelectric some observations we have only the co- tions for our tally. Therefore, ob- Measurements of Lunar 0ccu)tations ordinates of the station and/or their servers are requested to get their VII: Further Observational Results" by city, in which case they are listed 1976 observations to H.M.N.A.O. at John Africano et al, Astronomical J., after the observatories. least by April or May to be included 80, 689, and a pre-print supplied by on their tape listing. (Address: H.M. Frank Fekel of the University of Tex- There is some coding within the list Nautical Almanac Office, Royal Green- as. In December, Van Flandern received itself. If the name of the observer is wich Observatory, Herstmonceux Castle, -the Japanese observations on magnetic included in quotes there is some doubt Haiisham, Sussex, BN27 1RP, England) tape. The only observer identification as to the observer identification 104
The 1975 occultation count coupons USNO value code total for the ranking your USNO value code total, found by were fndispensab'le for preparing this rather than the simple incv"eased adding the value code in the USNO pre- tally. Observer identification may be weighting of reappearances which has dictions for each of the events you included in H.M.N.A.O.'S data for been used. He plan to get the value observe, on the enclosed coupon. )976, in which case, there wi)1 be code total through reduction calcula- less need for the coupons; but we will tions at USNO using the individual ob- Many thanks to Richard Nolthenius, )ike1y still find then to be useful servation data available on the tape Thomas Van Flandern and David Dunham for resolving discrepancies, non-SAO from H.M.N.A.O. So if you report all for their assistance to me in the com- counts, etc. Also, possibly starting of your 1976 observations to H.M.N.A. pilation of this comprehensive occul- with the 1976 tally, we may use the 0. soon, there is no need to report tation tally. NON NON NON NOh RANK COUNTRY VALUE TOTAL R'S ZC SAD R4NK CBSERVLR VALUE TcrAL R"S ZC SAC
I UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1]6 OBSERVERS 4747.81 2951 883 1879 124 7 g P. FECYNIY TO"SK, SICERI4. LSSR 41..07 37 ? 11 C 2 JAPAN 37 OBSERVERS 1683.69 1002 335 606 0 P9 0yql,y in. SCJULSEY KESV(,N, 4.c.r., AUSTRL. %1.07 37 ? ?8 C J UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS 6) OBSERVERS 911.95 623 142 373 50 91 yIKr kU"IE·¢CZAK ATLA".TIC CE4Cbq. FI. 40.38 15 11 Jl 0 4 ENGLAND " 62 OBSERVERS 816.79 654 80 325 8 P ? ra
" q NON NON NON NON VALUE 'TOT AL R 'S ZC SAD R ANK q A!!vk ()85FdVt dq O8SERVEM VALUE TCTAL R'S ZC SAD HAL ¶1MOdE , PO. I qtq ALVIN FLESHFN lO.Oj 8 I 5 C 3 37 JOHN pEAKMEKSTlLL P!LbAUKEE. bf. J.O 3 L I I 0 ?"00 UE('FFRtV KIRBY bEm)UTH, thGLAND 10.03 8 I 4 C J 39 MARGARET SJEbART GOLD RUN, CA 3.03 I I 0 C ?01 blLL Ian L). YOUNG ARLIHGTUN, VA. 10.03 8 1 5 0 3 39 V. URIK Uh+GORoo, UKQAINE, USSR 3.03 I I 0 C ?U? EIjWIN tLLIUTT KANSAS Cl TY, PO. 10.00 IQ 0 5 C 340 -D] 34 59 ·6C 19 37 FINLAND, f'ELSINU 3.03 L i C 0 ?01 V . UULOd FY GMcNCT4LIHNl. SIBERIA. USSR 10.00 10 0 0 C 34 X ·04 55 43 ·45 42 34 Canaua, pCNTrEAL 3.OJ I I 0 e ?J4 j. h. RtAUlivG RL,SF'I)EM.. NRTHANYS. ENG. 10.00 lC 0 4 0 342 P. BEYLEP¢ NEVHERL4ND$0 ELSLCC 3.00 3 0 0 C ?05 WILLIAM S. SKEFN HRFhYwUUD, Ca. 10.00 lC 0 7 0 34 3 cAYjD M. BqsERLEY MALVERN, ENGLAND 3.00 3 0 0 C ?Qb jottr yak C4mP HOVE. SELGIUP 10.00 lC 0 0 C 34% I. BROADBANK bEYP'UL,TH, ENGLAND 3.00 3 0 2 0 ?J7 L . B&U.V1)LE HdVhMUS HEATH, ENGLAND 9.07 5 2 5 C 345 Pp. BRUBACK L[LLESTQOp, hCkhAY HOt) 3 0 0 C ?JR U . IN I SHCNKU 0(NE¶SM LKRAJNFU USSR 9.07 5 2 0 0 346 P. CRABEK GOTTMLOCV. CIfCH. ,J.OJ 3 0 0 C ?Q9 "!Cr'4EL J. MURR1)K tm FltACrt, HAhAll 9.00 9 0 5 0 347 P. ELLIS HERSVµONCEUX. EbGLA¶D 3.00 3 0 I Q 2lC' F. J. C'L IVLR GUIL6FOKD, SURREY. ENG. 9.09 9 0 7 0 34C L. HEIL[G JACKSONVILLE. FL 3.0(j 3 0 3 0 ?11 K . VANEK 0L('McibC, CZECHOSLOVAKK 9.00 S 0 4 4 349 T. HIS. JAPAN 3.OJ 3 0 C 0 ?1? V. vUlLlev LE'afNGmAD, QUSSIA 9.00 g 0 5 2 350 ROBERT JAMES µ1Lh4UKEE, hi. 3.00 3 0 3 C ?14 A¶UNYMt)lj S LtlbtN, 4ETHERLAKCS 9.00 9 0 I 0 351 S. KRAVChUK KIEVv UKRAI%F, USSQ 3.uo 3 0 I 0 ?14 V . Ft hCriAK UZMCROO. UKRAINE9 USSR 8.07 4 2 O C 352 KICF¶AKD LASHLR · LAKE PARK. FL4. 3.OJ 3 0 2 Q 215 R(WT. A. MCCUTCHECN ChARLOTTESVILLE , VA. 8.07 4 2 0 C 35J A. LOSUK VO'RCNEZH, qLSSIA J.OJ J 0 Q 0 ? 16 WiLTEK I. NISSEN ARLINGTON, VA. 8.07 4 2 3 0 354 BCMUMIL MALECEK VALASSKE "EtlRlCf. CIECF.oI 3.00 3 0 0 C 217 KdAjCift HLUHUVEC9 CZECHOSLCVAKIA 8.03 6 I 4 2 355 G. PUMSHALL jOAannE SBL'4G. S. AFR 1CA 3.00 3 0 I I ?19 HCGER L MIKEY S DIEPENHEEK9 BELGUIM 8.03 6 I 3 C 356 j. MltTELSKI FOQT SKAL4, PCLA%L) J.OJ 3 0 2 0 2 J9 I . SUi . J4?AN 8.OJ 6 I 0 0 357 A. "UVCHAN KIEV'. UKRaI¶Ep USSR 3.OJ 3 0 I C ??0 -QC bO jl o51 27 5 EILEvVBURG, GERMAN OEM. REP. 0.03 6 I 0 0 358 A. HUVAK TEPLlCt¶ CZECHUSLCV4KIA J.OO 3 0 I C ??1 V. BURUVSFIC KAIAN, TATA% USSR 8.09 e 0 3 0 359 OC'ENAS HA'\6SKA BYSVqjCA. CZECH. 4.00 J 0 j I "?22 p. rmlucrA HLOHCIVEC. CIECHCSLOVAKIA 8.00 8 0 2 0 360 M. pUSHNkNKU KHABAQUVSK, SIBERIA, USSR 3.00 3 0 0 Q 22 3 LAqRY MILLS KANSAS CITY, MO. 8.00 8 0 I C 361 J. RIPERO PADRID, SPAIN 3.00 3 0 2 I 224 ANUwmocS HOkSENS9 JLTLAND, DENMARK 8.00 e 0 I 0 362 N. SMIRNOVA KAZAN, TAHa. USSR J.OJ J 0 j C ?25 A. POROSUV TOMSK, SIBERIA. LSSR 7.07 3 2 0 C 363 GOQDUN TAYLCR COh8tECH. E%GLA'U" 3.00 3 0 3 0 226 rANS-jCACr'lM BODE HANNCVER9 b. GERPANY 7.03 5 I 2 0 364 P. VINGE·CHCETS 4NTHERPEN, htL(jLP J.OO 3 0 C O '227 P. CRUSOOV YE'VISEYSK, SIBERIM LSSR 7.03 5 I G 0 365 m VAT; JAPA4 3.00 3 0 0 C ??8 A. EFIMOV ULYA4OVSK , RLSSIA 7.03 5 I 0 0 3Cb -DO IB 31 ·52 20 33 NETHEHLANDS, AMSTEWAY 3.00 3 0 O C . 229 A. Mt,SHtdIKUV RYAUN, RUSSIA 7.03 5 I 2 0 367 OOO 04 40 o51 ?P 53 ENOLANO, !ISuApP5TEAD 3.00 3 0 0 0 ?30 F. ONO SIKAHAMA, JAPAN 7.03 5 I 2 C 368 -DO cl 37 059 49 S 3 h(jdh.4Y, UKEH 3.00 3 0 0 0 ? ?1 HOP!ERT P jKE MISSISSAUGA, CANAD4 7.03 5 I 4 C 369 ·0(J 07 46 ·5C %4 44 ENGLAND. BDLRNEPCLTH 3.00 3 0 3 C ?32 -DO jl 34 o45 07 58 Italy, RIVALBA. NR. TURIN 7.03 5 I I 0 37C -ClO 12 bO ·51 12 45 BRUGGE,. BELGSLM J.OO J 0 0 C ?33 -DU 19 Ib o52 14 29 NETHERLANDS, UITHCCRN 7.03 5 I 0 0 371 ·00 DO 15 ·51 Ib 6 CK(\YUGN, ENGLAND 'KOO 3 0 0 0 ?36 GEO'cGE HAYSLER AUSTIN, Tx 7.00 7 0 7 372 -02 19 15 "J2 U4 12 lSRAtL. GIVAT4YIv 3.00 3 0 0 0 C 6 0 C ? 35 V. UKPM1JVSKI KHARKOV, UKRMNE, USSR 7.00 7 0 I Q 373 -DO 37 46 ·52 ?5 35 HANNOVER, GERPAK FED. HEP. 3.00 3 ? 36 S. KC)VAG1» GQRKI, RUSSIA 7.00 7 0 0 0 374 -DO 21 13 ·52 11 2 NETHERLANCS, SctsTDljic 3.00 3 0 I C ? 37 V . M(jY . JAPAN 7.00 7 0 0 0 375 ·00 Ob 4 ·53 4C 34 ENGLAND, hAKEFFELD 3.00 3 0 0 0 · ? 38 F. ONO. JAPAN 7.00 7 0 0 C 376 J.A.B. ARACIJU RECIFE, RRAIIL 2.00 2 0 0 C ? 39 CEV.-OEGG. (jtBSRVTCRY 0UhECl¶r hEh ZEALANDOL T.OO 7 0 4 0 377 A. AVKOHCFUK KIEV, UKRAINE. USSR ?.00 2 O 0 C ?40 AHONYM)U5 RINGSTED. DEKF'ARK 7.00 7 0 0 0 378 R. BLISSETT LO4f)CN, E4GLAKD 2.CiO 2 0 0 C 241 C. BUGOANCJV RYAZAN, RUSSIA 6.07 2 2 0 C 3 79 P. Bf)GDANOV SM°ATUV, QUSSIA ?.00 ? 0 0 0 ?42 )fDU1Y stmcv LAS VEGAS, NY 6.07 2 2 2 0 3RO G. BUSS ARI:NCEL. ENGLAND 2.00 2 0 0 C ?43 µ. I HCCAN I UZtqGORUD9 UKRAINE, USSR 6.07 2 2 O 0 381 P. CADA . SLANY, CZECHOSLOVAKIA 2.00 2 0 2 e 244 jUA'O CL°4PAM REUFURU, TEXAS 6.03 4 I 4 I 38? J. ALCO·YA CRtSPO MACMD, SPAIK 2.00 2 0 II ?45 V. HAKEV|C YENISEYSK. SfHEKIA, USSR 6.03 4 I 0 C 383 s. uu. J4PA'O 2.OQ 2 000 ?66 S. MUTjNCLE SWCvSATO, JAPAN 6.03 4 I 3 0 384 P. KASTOVSKY VALASSKF KlWlClr CIECH. 2.00 2 0 0 C 267 crtr pArto'v BUCYAN8N, PICHIGAK 6.03 q I 2 0 385 A. KULAK FQKT SKALA, PCLAKC 2.00 t 0 2 0 26d GERRY SAHULYK MILKAUKtE, hi. 6.03 4 I 2 0 386 C4NE P'IOUAY LAS VEGAS. KV 2.00 2 0 O 0 ?6 ) G. Spk FORT SKALA, PCLAKD 6.03 4 I 0 0 387 C. PITP'EK bEYpCLTH. tNGLANC 2.00 2 0 0 0 ?50 ·'jC1 G? 53 ·51 24 SC ASCOT, EVGLAKD 6.03 4 I 0 C 388 C. REID ARl:NfjELn FNGLAND 2.00 ? 0 0 Q ?51 -D? Ib 16 0jj 4c 7 ISUEL, ASHKELCIN 6.03 4 I 0 0 389 J. SILHAN CESKE 3UDEjCvlCt. CZECH. 2.30 2 0 i C 252 -UO (i? 24 o51 ?0 56 µAIDST(J4E, tNGL4hCj 6.03 4 I 4 0 390 J. SMUDLA GcjTThaLD(jv¶ CZECim. " 2.00 2 0 I 1 ?53 Q . BCKINSEGNA MAPCINELLE. BELGIUM 6.00 6 0 I C 391 S. SUBJN DO"aETSK, UKRAINL. USSR ?.00 ? 0 0 0 254 J(?HN C^UQCH PRlhCETON JCT., n.j. 6.00 6 0 2 Q 392 R. STEBBAGE MAfD5T()NEo C4GLAN[) 2.00 2 0 0 C 25$ GEUuGE FGnIltm BALE O'URFE, CANADA 6.00 6 0 5 0 393 DON STOCKU"4UER V1CTi)KFA, TEXAS ?.00 2 0 ? 0 ?5$ jEt Ik HLGHCVEC9 CIECHCSLCVAKIA 6.00 6 0 4 0 394 A. fo HYAIAN, RLSST4 ?,00 ? 0 0 0 257 4 .K . MCK I?1NQ)'\6 PANAPA CIYY, FLA. 6.00 6 0 0 C 395 0. TOK. JApAh ?.00 2 0 0 Q 258 JEAN MEttib ERPS-KWEQPS. 8ELGUIM 6.00 6 0 I C 396 V. TON. JAPAN 2.00 2 0 0 C 259 a. RAL'cjk LLVA¶UVSK, QLSSIA 6.00 6 0 I 0 397 A. UTD. JAPAN 2.00 2 ·0 0 0 ?b0 jUitF REvYOEnS HAS5€LT. µELGIUµ 6.03 6 0 Q 0 398 E. VCNCHTK Lvcjv, UKRAInE. lssr 2.00 ? O 0 0 ?61 NIKE REYMjLUS JACKSONVILLEw Ft. 6.00 6 0 6 C 399 B. C. WATTS CLFETHORPS, LINCSb FNG. 2.00 2 0 0 G ?62 P. SAS. JAPAN 6.00 6 0 0 0 4{)0 F.J. jdlCCOP MCNTHE4L. CAh&DA ?.00 ? 0 I C 2bj K, >°LYYEVA Kµ&'tKUW. LKd4lNeg USSR 6.00 6 0 2 0 4Cl -DO 19 I? o52 21 g NE THERLANDS, AMSTERDAP 2.00 2 0 Q 0 264 XAVH hlLLl 08tREmtmE)INGEN. switz. 6.00 e 0 2 C 402 ·00 07 25 o5C 43 44 ENGLANUo ROUoNFPCLYH ?.00 ? 0 2 0 265 -Ik ?1 54 -45 54 4C DUNFCI'V, hEb ZEALAND 6.00 6 0 3 0 603 ·00 DO 43 ·51 Ob 21 ENGLAND, CRAKLEY 2.00 ? 0 0 0 266 -OG C2 or o5l 1% 56 M8IDSTU¶E. E4GLA4D 6.00 6 D 2 0 404 -IQ 07 40 -32 53 54 AUSTRALIA, KEhCASTLE N.S.H. ?.00 2 0 0 C . 26 7 H. 8KVAAT MKEUFIELU. C4 5.03 3 X 3 0 4C·5 R. m ARbUUR BISHOPSTOKE, ENGLAND 1.00 I 9 I 0 ?68 JEFF GREEN REDFCQi). TFXAS 5.03 3 I 3 I 406 JOHN 84UMERT CHAPEL HILLd KC). CAR. 1.00 1 O 1 Q 269 A. JONES G!LLIN';MA¥, E4GLAM) 5.03 3 I I C 407 L. 8ERDNIKijV S4rATQV, RUSSIA 1.00 I 0 0 C 270 V. OTU. J4PAN 5.03 3 I 0 0 4.?9 JOHN tBIHETTA GREEN HILLS9 CHIC 1.00 i 0 0 C 2 n S. RAYNER bEYPULT'G FNGLAM) 5.03 J II I 609 J. BCICEK · jINDRICHUV HRADEC, C1ECrn 1.00 I 0 O Q 272 °0'6 55 24 045 3Cl 4 CA¶AD4, PCNTHFAL 5.03 3 I I Q 410 J. KUORIGUEL BRAVO PAORIU, SPAN 1.00 J O I I ??3 V. DZHAPEASHVILI 4BASVINA4, GECR31A. USSR 5.00 5 0 3 C 411 CIAVID R. BKUhN FAYETTt, PISSCURI 1.00 I 0 i 0 ?74 V. HAUT Chh4. CLECHCSLOVAKIA 5.00 5 0 e 412 CHROMEK F1ANSJ % 1% ERRONEOUS STAR POSITIONS Finally, Robert Sandy cor'ments that the variance, which may be simply de- FROM OCCULTATIONS although 162442 disaopeared inside his fined as the average of the squares of accuracy range, he heard from Wayne the residuals, less the square of the David Herald Clark that it fell outside his when he mean. The square root of the variance observed the same event. The HMNAO re- is the standard deviation. which is a In the future, I will be investigating sidual for Sandy's observation was measure of the spread of the residuals al) reports of 0ccu)tations where the -2:'09, which is somewhat larger than and which has special significance if observed time of occultation was out- their maximum expected residual of the form of the distribution is known. side the predicted range value given 1:'5O. 162442 is taken from the GC. The The 109 timings noted above yielded a in the USNO predictions. I request only reliable comparison is from Yale, standard deviation of 0.60 arc sec- that reports of all such timings be which however does not list a proper onds. Also, the number of timings with sent- directly to me. My address is motion for the star. Assuming the GC residuals corresponding to given P.0. Box 254, bloden, A.C.T. 2606, proper motion is approximately true, standard deviation multiples yielded a Australia. When referring to a star, the Yale position is 0:'8 greater in reasonable approximation to a normal p]eb'se"brovide the SAD or ZC number, RA, which reduces the residual to an distribution, i.e., 68T. within ± I not the Z number, as crossreferencing acceptable amount. By using the GC and standard deviation of the mean, 95% from the Z number is somewhat incon- Yale positions to compute the proper within ± 2 standard deviations, etc. venient. motion, the 1976 position of the star This result is consistent with HMNAC'S in RA is 1':7 greater than the raw GC ± 1.5 seconds, which falls at 2.5 Reports recently received are sumar- position, indicating that the true ex- standard deviations; 99% of the obser- ized below. "Diff" is the difference planation is an incorrect proper mo- vations would be expected to fall between the observed and predicted tion in the GC, the true figure being within these limits, and in fact, only times, in the sense: observed minus "050020. one fell outside. predicted. )975/6 How significant is the + 0.108 arc The source for 93378 is the Yale cata- Date Observer SAD # Ace Diff second mean? From the Central Limit logue. The AGK3 position for this star Theorem of probability, the means of agrees with Yale to better than'O;'i. Oct 12 R. Sandy, USA 162442 4' , 3' groups of N samples chosen from a par- Oct 12 Id. Clark, USA 162442 4 + 6 ent distribution form a normal distri- The source of 96985 is the GC; however Mar 6 A. Camponova, bution about the parent mean, with a both the ZC and AGK3 are in excellent Argentina 93378 +30 variance of I/N times the variance of agreement with it. Przybyl comnented Apr 8 E. Przybyl, the parent distribution. The variance that although light cloud was present, Argentina 96985 -86 of the parent distribution, although the disappearance was instantaneous, Aug 7 R. Sandy, USA 161754 2 - 4 not exactly known, is reasonably ap- and the star was not seen during the Aug 30 R. Sandy, USA 158753 5 + 8 proximated by the observed va,riance next three minutes. With the agreement over 109 samples; thus 0.60/v'TOB = of the AGK3 with the others, it would ERRATUM 0.057 arc seconds is the predicted seem that the cloud was, in fact, re- standard deviation of observation- sponsible. Vol. 1, No. 9, p. 88. In the tatje of group means, and 0.108 ± 0.114 arc erroneous total occultation predic- seconds is a 95% confidence interval 16)754 is taken from the GC. Yale :i;?:g July 9, for diff. of +77', read for the true mean residua]. Neglecting gives a similar position, but lists a such small differences as 0.006 arc significant positive proper motion in seconds, and considering that the pos- RA, whereas the GC is slightly nega- cal work easy. itive and negative extremes are equal- tive. This results in the Yale posi- ly likely, the confidence that the tion giving a worse time. [Ed: Our own Since the main motive of analysis by true mean is positive approaches 98%. timing of SAD 161754 on Aug. 7, at St. ' the uninformed observer is to evaluate Charles, was 252 early, tending to his timings, it is necessary to rede- If one is willing to gamble with less confirm an error in star position, but fine the residuals to correspond with favorable odds, there is a 68% confi- also indicating that part of the prob- time rather than angular separation. dence that the true mean residual is lem may be in the limb corrections.] As a first step, since HMNAO uses a between ' 0.108 " 0.057 = " 0.)62 and Likewise, )58573 is also from the GC, negative residual to indicate coverage + 0.108 - 0.057 = - 0.051 arc seconds. and Yale and ZC positions agree well. by the moon, it is necessary to change From here on, the argument degenerates Attention should be paid to these two the sign of either the disappearance into statistical quibbling; the cen- stars in the future, to see if similar Or of the reappearance residuals for tral fact is that my angular-time re- discordances occur again. consistency with early or late tim- siduals tend to be positive, with an ings. On the philosophy that a posi- average on the order of 0.1 second of ANALYZING HMNAO RESIDUALS tive residual should imply a late tim- arc, and vary in Gaussian fashion with ing (i.e., observed later than calcu- a standard deviation of 0.6 second. If Clifford J. Bader lated), the sign of the disappearance matters continue along this course, should be.changed. Because the corre- 1000 observations will reduce the 95% One of the frustrating aspects of be- spondence between time and angular confidence interval of the mean only ing an amateur total occultation ob- separation is a complex funCtion of to ± 0.038 seconds of arc instead of server is the lack of knowledge as to position on the limb and other varia- 0.]14 seconds; thus, linearly aging just what one's observations mean. bles, the resulting data (which may be observers cannot hope to much improve Timing's are made, sent off to HMNAO, defined as "angular seconds late" or their square-root-dependent confidence and reductions come back; without de- "angular seconds early") will be con- intervals! tailed knowledge of the reduction pro- sistent in sign with, but not neces- cess, the observer is hard put to sarily proportional to, actual time As noted before, the angu)ar residual- utilize them in any manner except to differences, and will be useful for time relationship is complex. On the check for too many residuals beyond comparisons between various observers. average, something like 0.4 seconds of the ± 1.5 seconds of arc which HMNAO arc per second of time is a reasonable gives as an acceptable limit. There A natural way to proceed, after chang- guess. Thus, the approximate + 0.1 · are, how2ver, some statistical infer- ing the disappearance signs, is to second of arc is equivalent to about ences to be made, the calculation of calculate the algebraic average (i.e., 0.25 second of time, moon ahead of which can while away cloudy evenings the mean) of the residuals. In my schedule or observer timing late. The and revive flagging 'interest. A fur- case, for 109 timings over the period former condition could imply error ther, apparently unexplored, possibil- 1973-1975, the mean was " 0.108 arc anywhere in the whole time/position ity is the amateur exchange of statis- seconds. This result, although of system, including the observer's geo- tical data, which might help some ob- somewhat dubious significance, at graphical location; since the moon's servers pinpoint special location or least offers the encouragement that shadow, on the average, moves roughly timing problems, and which would cer- all is not in vain and that no gross 3000 ft/sec across the earth at 40" tainly spur interest and sense of par- systematic error is involved. latitude, 0.25 second of time corre- ticipation. l'lany calculators have fea- sponds to some 750 feet of geographi- tures which make the necessary nwieri- The next logical step is to compute cal difference. The mean residual is 107 mainly affected by longitude error; where the whole systsn stands. treatment will be necessary. Also, the latitude errors contribute principally confidence interval will become exces- to the variance. It would be most interesting for a sively broad. I would be most pleased nunber of readers to publish their to exchange statistics with interested Here, some comparisons between observ- means and standard deviations for spe- observers, and believe that o. n. ers would be useful. I would be very cffied time periods. The ninber of ob- would be an ideal vehicle for such an embarrassed to find such an error in servations on which the analysis is interchange. [Ed: If Mr. Bader is wil- my map reading, and dm loath to be- based should be indicated, in order to ling to to prepare short articles, at lieve that my timings run late by a permit a confidence estimation. If the intervals, putting the data in tabular full quarter second; similar results timings total appreciably less than form, we can work OUt something.] by other observers would help dispel 100, the parent variance may differ the lingering doubt, as would some in- significantly from the observed vari- 1209 Gateway Lane dfcatfon from the professionals as to ance and a more involved statistical West Chester, PA )9380 U.S.A. ACCURATE GEOGRAPHIC COORDINATES the 0 mark is centered between the two to get accurate results. Creases cause lines representing the road, and the a map to shrink. Use only maps that Thomas H. Campbell, Jr. reading taken at the reference longi- have been stored flat or rolled. Use tude or latitude.). Assign a (-) sign the 150" latitude and longitude marks For tfmfng data to be of real scien- to the measurement in this example, as on each map, to get the factors for tiffc value, ft is extremely important the intersection is east of the refer- converting millimeters to seconds of to determine the geographic coordin- ence longitude. Similarly, measure the latitude and 'longitude, rather than ates of an occultation timing station distance from the reference latitude using a constant conversion factor; accurately. Detemfning such coordin- north to the intersection. Assign a particularly important in the case of ates to ± O:i of latitude and longi- (+) sign because it is north of the longitude, since the linear equiva- tude, from a 75-minute USGS topograph- reference latitude. These sign conven- lent of a unit of longitude varies ic quadrangle map, may sound like a tions hold for North America, but may approximately as the cosine of the meticulous, time-consuming task. Real- differ for east longitude and south latitude. Maps may differ slightly, ly, it fs not difficult, and takes on- latitude. especially if they are old, and have ly a few minutes using the system de- A. Intersection is -182.7 nn from shrunk in size. scribed below. The map representation the reference longitude. fs used to illustrate a hypothetical B. Intersection is +275.3 m from The example above is valid in the case. My tools are a thin transparent the reference latitude. case of roads which run directly millimeter scale, an illuminated 2X 4. Convert the millimeter measure- north-south or east-west. In the case magnifier, and a calculator. ments into seconds of longitude and of a straight road which angles across latitude. the map, with the station several hu- Procedure: A. Seconds of longitude from ref- dred feet from a landmark, you will erence to intersection: have to fom an imaginary right trian- 1. Identify the two map borders Sec of A = -182.7x 1:¶:7°L! = gle. The road is the hypotenuse. Refer nearest to your landmark. In this ex- to the illustration. The E-id distance ample, the road intersection is the -159.61 seconds of longitude. is equal to the length of the hypoten- landmark. The two map borders repre- B. Seconds of latitude from refer- use times the cosine of o. The N-S sent your reference longitude and lat- ence to intersection: distance is equal to the length of the itude. I Sec of 0 - "275.3"m.x 1::'1°L! = hypotenuse times the sine of a. After determining the above distances in ".1" IS' DO" M +214.97 seconds of latitude. feet, follow steps 1 thru 6 above to (The system used above is known as the determine the geographic coordinates. factor-label method. You can be sure ..k the equation is set up properly when In determining geographic coordinates, . all the labels cancel except the one the objective is to so minimize errors you are solving for. Then it is just a that the only appreciable remaining 3· '8 " ~0 ' k matter of arithmetic operations on a error is the error of the map itself. calculator.) + : ' L_._ _. .: > ~? 5. As station X is far from the OCCULTATIONS OF = reference point, the best way to lo- GALACTIC-NEBULAR OBJECTS cate it is to measure the distance with a steel tape or precision odome- Richard P. Binzel "18?.7 m ~ ter, and convert that distance to sec- i) \< onds. Don't use a pair of dividers to Included in the 1977 USNO total occul- locate the station on the map using tation predictions are listings of qc- the marginal distance scale; that in- cultatfons of various "Galactic-Nebu- vites error. 1ar" (GN) objects. The list of GN ob- A. Seconds of longitude from cen- jects includes various open and globu- "7"37'30 X terline of road: Sec of a = lar clusters brighter than mag. 10.0, 1 ¶n6h. 25.4~ 150" A two diffuse nebulae (MB and M20), the 2. Convert your reference 10ngitude 35"fb " 2®6%U 14ndL " l/l./n Crab Nebula and the Saturn Nebula. and latitude from degrees, minutes, = 0:39 longitude. These GN objects have been assigned and seconds of arc, to degrees and B. Seconds of latitude from cen- USNO reference numbers prefixed by the seconds only, making them more conven- terline of road: Sec of 0 = letter G. Previous information on qc- ient to work with, when calculating. 25.4~ 150" S cultations of gn objects appeared in A. Reference longitude 82" 45' 00" -1056N " Z000"Ft'" 1 "FN6JL " 192.1 o. n. i, 70 and 76 (Q's 7 and 8). is equal to 82" 2700". = -10:47 latitude. B. Reference latitude 27° 37' 30" 6. Geographic coordinates: Several favorable occu'ltations of GN is equal to 27" 2250". 82° 2700:'00 reference longitude objects will occur during the first 3. Place the 0 millimeter mark of -159.61 to crossroad ha7f of 1977. The moon will make three the scale directly over the reference 82' 254039 crossroad longitude passages across a 7.3 mag. globular longitude. Make sure the scale is +0.39 to station cluster, M9; a rich 4.6 mag. open placed squarely on the map. Look 82' 2546?78 or 82° 42' 20':8 Id cluster, M24; and another open clus- through the magnifier and scale to and ter, M67, 6.1 mag.; along with two find the intersection of centerlines 27° 2250:'00 reference latitude passages across the 6.5 mag. open of the crossroads, and read the dis- +214.97 to crossroad cluster M25. Other GN objects occulted tance to that point to 0.1-mi11imeter ZT' Z464.91 crossroad latitude in the first half of 1976 include M23, precision (This is the direction in -10.47 to station a 6.9 mag. open cluster; 9.0 mag. M73, which I prefer to measure, but some 27' 24«56 or 27" 40' 5€'5 N another open cluster; and NGC 7009, people argue that they can interpolate the 8.4 mag. planetary nebula better the scale reading more accurately if Never use a folded map if you expect known as the Saturn Nebula. 108 r In the table below, the upcomfng dc- General Assenbly in Grenoble last Aug- November essentia17y confirm the data cultatfons for the first half of 1977 ust, there was increasing interest in reported for this star (SAD 16348); ZC are listed for each GN object with the close binaries discovered during oc- 2969) on p. 60 of o. n. n. Photoelec- date and approximate hour (U.T.), the cultations among double star astrono- tric records of occultations of this percent sunlit of the moon, and the mers. ZC 1772 is a spectroscopic bi- star obtained at other observatories approximate region of visibflity for nary with a separation of perhaps is soUght. I do not know of any photo- each event. The table lfsts only the O:'OO9. This is an order of magnitude electr:ic records of occultations of B favorable upcoming events, with the smaller than the separation of the Capricorni's distant 6th-magnitude moon's fllumination and the relative components seen by speckle interfero- " companion, ZC 2968 Richard Nolthenius' sun and moon altitudes being determin- metry, but it was probably the spec- observation, reported below, indicates ants in the classification of events troscopic pair that was resolved. Par- a possible new close component of this as favorable. allax errors make spectroscopic separ- star; his estimate of the brightness ations very uncertain in most cases, of the visual companion is considerab- The 1950 right ascension of M67 (USNO as was shown by B Capricorni. If ZC ly fainter than Harold Povenmire's Ref. No. G00012) used to compute al) )772 were triple, the component seen 1975 December estimate. The MAG3 value USNO total occultation predictions for by speckle interferometry is bright listed is an average of their esti- 1977, including the ones from whichh enough that it should appear in the mates. A massive attempt to observe a th& table beiow was prepared, wash8 spectrtm as a third line. graze of ZC 2969 is mentioned in GRAZ- 43.3, but the value is actua)1y 8 ES REPORTED TO IOTA. 48P8. As a result, the actual occulta- Sincheskul gives the following 1950 tion of G00012 will occur about )5 right ascensions and declinations for Preliminary reports of results of last minutes later than the time given for the three anonymous (non-BDlhstars at July's occultation of B Scorpii were ft in the table below and in all USNO . the bottom of the list: I, 57"52E reported at the I.A.U. General Assem- total occultatfon predictions for "23"54'; 2, 7hlyn32', +21"51'; and 3, bly in Grenoble, France. David Evans )977. The error will be corrected in 2Ih28m00', -12"27'. noted that 11 diffraction fringes were the predictions for 1978, and a)s0 for evident in the data for the primary the fictitious "star" which marks the 218 possible and probable new double obtained with the 208-cm Struve re- center of M67 in any 1977 special pre- stars listed in Union Observatory Cir- flector at McOonald Observatory, the di'ctfons of occultations of the numer- cular No. 95 were identified and key- most he has seen in any occultation ous non-SAO stars from the Astrograph- punched by Donald Stockbauer a few record. The trace is even good enough ic Catalog which David Dunham computes months ago. The list is mainly a com- to show the presence of the spectro- and dfstributes. pilation of anomalous occultation ob- scopic D component only O:'OOl away. servations made in South Africa during Data on all five known components of )977 Approx. % Nighttime Area of the 1920'S and 1930'S. A listing of the system were obtained with 3 tele- Date U. T. sa Visibility . these doubles was sent to the graze scopes at McOonald. James Elliot notes computors in November; the new double that he was able to completely separ- M9 (mag. 7.3, GB, diameter 2:4) star codes will appear in all USNO to- ate the AB component from the C compo- jan 16 jgh 10- Id. Australia tal and grazing occultation predic- nent in the diaphragm at Mt. Hopkins Feb )3 2 29- S. Africa tions for 1978 onwards. This brings us Observatory, so that good-quality data Mar 12 8 52- Id. South America significantly closer to completion of were obtained for both systems. Photo- IOTA'S double star project, which will electric observations were also ob- M24 (mag. 4.6, DC, diameter 4:0) result in a list of all known and sus- tained at Table Mountain Observatory, Jan )7 18 4- E. Australia pected stars in the SAD Catalog which California. All data are now being di- , Feb 14 I 19- S. Africa can be occulted by the moon being sent gested at the University of Texas, to Mar 13 7 40- S. America to all members. Only one more major- obtain the best possible astrometric list needs to be incorporated; the information about the system. The an- M67 (mag. 6.1, DC, diameter iS:O) spectroscopic binaries listed in Nil- alysis indicates a separation of 0:'45 Mar 30 16 76" Japan,Phi1ippine Is- son's radial velocity catalog. It for the AB pair, with B at mag. 5.8. lands, Siberia should be possible to prepare most of Analyses for such separations must be Apr 27 0 54" Canada, Eastern that list by computer. The data needed done with care, since they are ten third of U.S.A. to do the job have been sent to Wayne times smaller than the resolution of May 24 8 32+ Alaska, Hawaii Green, who plans to use the computers Watts' charts for determining local at the University of North Florida in lunar slopes, yet more than ten times M25 (mag. 6.5, DC, diameter 40') jacksonville for the project. The sep- the approximately 40 meters of lunar Mar 13 14 38- Alaska arate lists wi)1 then need to be merg- limb whose slope can be determined Apr 9 19 6]- Japan ed into one master list in one format from the recorded diffraction pattern. arranged in SAO-number order. Wayne M23 (mag. 6.9, QC, diameter 25') Warren, at Goddard Space Flight Cen- Dr. Paul J. Edwards, University of' 0- Apr 9 5 67- S. America ter, recently completed thorough tago; P.0. Box 56; Dunedin, New Zea- checking and correcting of several er- land, reported photoelectric observa- M73 (mag. 9.0, DC, diameter 5:0) rors in'the Stockbauer visual double tions of the occultation of B Scorpii May 9 16 55- japan star list data which were found by obtained at Dunedin and Auckland in computer tests. Observational data 1975 September. A third attempt in NGC 7009 (mag. 8.4, PL, diameter on) supplied by Charles Morley at USNO was Wellington was clouded out. The output May 9 19 54- Australia essential for this task, begun by Gary from the photometer was recorded on Ringler .several months earlier. Adding cassette tapes, which are being ana- reference infomation to the computer lyzed at Dunedin. This system was set NEW DOUBLE STARS data, mainly dates and discoverers, up for amateur photoelectric observa- will be the last job, which will have tions of variable stars in New Zea- David Id. Dunham to be done largely by me. It also ap- land with Dr. Edwards the coordinator. pears necessary to set up a double The table lists additions and correc- star occultation observation file, as The last occultation of B Scorpii in tions to the special double star list we are getting an increasing number of the series which ended last August 4 of 1974 May g not listed in previous cases of two or more widely separated was observed by Toshio Hirose and sev- issues.'The columns and general format (in time and location) observations of eral other Japanese observers. They are the same as in previous issues. occultations of the same star. These traveled by train and ship over 1000 Under the method cohmn M, "I" signi- data should all be more readily avail- km north from Tokyo to Hokkaido Island fies discovery by interferometry. The able than they are now. to observe the southern-limit graze two doubles in Virgo so indicated were near Sapporo. They did not know about observed by speckle interferometry B Capricorni remains the most inter- the B component beforehand, but Ham- with the 4Tmeter reflector at Kitt esting multiple system currently being hiko Ono, one of the observers, showed Peak, as reported in Information Cir- occulted. Photoelectric occultation later that it explained the dinning cular No. 70 of the I.A.U.'s Ccmnis- observations obtained at McOonald Ob- phenomena recorded by some of' the ob- sion on double stars. At the I.A.U. servatory during 1976 September and servers, including himself'. The ex- 109 . " Wcted separation of B from A project- have been used in conjunction with ered during the graze of Spica in 1975 ed onto their position angle of graze mine in the list below. There has been November in Australia (both were (183") was 0:'3. As no pair of their. confirmation of a few other doubles, southern-limit events). Richard Nol- observers was separated by near this sUch as 6 Scorpii, and an occultation thenius did not notice the companion amount of graze height, no significant of SACJ 77219 observed in Kiev in 1974 during his daytime observations of the improvement in the separation could be indicated to me that this visual dou- same graze in Arizona; he feels that obtained; their observations are con- ble had been left out of my lists. he would have seen the secondary if it sistent with the data available from were brighter than mag. 3.5. It prob- the July 8th event discussed above and A list of photoelectric observations ably will be possible to estimate the on p. 83-85 of the last issue. When an made by Eitter and Beavers at the Uni- separation and position angle from the accurate separation and position angle versity of Iowa's Fick Observatory has Florida graze observations when they are available from the July data, they yielded several entries in the list. are a)) available. I do not know of can be used to better define the lunar They list two observations of the any successful photoelectric observa- profile observed near Sapporo. This is probable close triple system µ Arietis tions of the occultation, which took because each observer was effectively (SAD 93062, ZC 399), which can be com- place in daylight for most of North at twO graze heights, one for each pared with four photoelectric records America. component. Another group of Japanese obtained at Hamburg Observatory. The observers farther east on Hokkaido re- closest pair of observations of the 6 The information about the companion of corded the graze of the C component are events one month apart, one ob- ZC 1253 was obtained from A)istair R. (ZC 2303). Analysis of the observa- served at Hamburg in 1973 January and Walker's article, "The Angular Diame- tions of the two expeditions cou)d re- a nearly grazing event at Fick Obser- ter of Psi Virginis," Monthly Notices sult in improved values for the separ- vatory a month later. Combining the of the Royal Astron. Soc., 173, 29P. ation and position ang1e of C from A, two yields a separation of 0:'49 in po- The main interest of the article is independent of the lunar profile, sition angle 263", for the close pair. the diameter of the primary, found to whose uncertainties cause difficulties Significantly rapid orbital motion be 0!'0061 ± O:'OOO3, but the star also in the interpretation of photoelectric doesn't permit satisfactory interpre- happened to be an unexpected double. total occu7tation observations for tation of the observations (this un- The article gives a very good discus- such large separations. derscores the need for data obtained sion of the astrophysics of the sys- at two or more widely separated obser- tem, but unfortunately gives no posi- The dup)icity of SAD 79)00 was detect- vatories for the same occultations). tional information other than the pro- ed not during a lunar occultation, but For nearly grazing events, such as the jected separation. Especially, the po- during an occu)tation by another moon, 1973 February observation at Fick, sition angle of the occultation event Rhea, a satellite of Saturn. Analysis Watts' charts might be used to calcu- is not given; the list value is only of the observations is reported in an late the local lunar slope needed to an estimate for a nearly central oc- article by Gordon Taylor and others in obtain the modified position angle of cultation for this part of the moon's Astronomy and Astrophysics, SO, p. projection. But Watts' charts are orbit. I do not have time to compute )2). The photoelectric observations really too coarse for such small sep- the position angles for all new occul- were made with a 30-cm Cassegrain at arations; the lunar slope for separa- tation doubles, although hopefully in the Sierra Nevada Observatory of the tions less than about 0!'1 can be de- the future when the double star data University of Granada, Spain. One dif- termined better from accurate photoe- are better organized, it will be pos- ficulty was that the equipment was not lectric timings at two nearby tele- sible to do this automatically with intended for use on rapidly varying scopes, or from the fringe spacing of data available at USNO for all events objects and a lO-second time constant one well-observed diffraction pattern. involving possible doubles. In the was built into the amplifier to he)p The evidence for the faint close third meantime, observers are asked to smooth OUt scintillation effects. Nev- star now also seems strong. piease provide as complete as possible ertheless, due to Rhea's great dis- information about suspected double tance, the projected separation was The results for the 1973 January oc- star events, especially the star's SAD determined to O:'OOV Artificial occul- cultation of SAD 76425 (ZC 598) ob- number, ZC number (if any), the posi- tations permitted calibration of the tained at Fick and McOonald Observa- tion angle of the event, the estimated rate of deflection of the chart re- tories were combined to obtain a sep- duration (time between steps) of the corder pen, so that event times could aration of 0:033 in PA. 142°. Japan- event, and, if possible, relative mag- be recovered to 0.5 sec. ese photoelectric observations of this nitude estimates. star were made one month before and Most of the new doubles in the list one month after this occultation, so BD +12" 1926, noted as double by Ron are from publications of occultations their mean epoch for a combined solu- Price during a near-graze disappear- observed in the U.S.S.R. during 1973, tion is the same. They got rather dif- ance on 1976 June 3, is one of the )974, and 1975, kindly sent to me by ferent values, 0!'095 in 214". The po- brightest members of M67. I observed a Dr. A. Osipov at Kiev. The min center sition angle difference fOr their ob- reappearance of the star during the for Soviet oCcultation activity seems servations was only 20°, so their sol- M67 passage of )976 September 20, but to be in the Ukraine, where the most ution is rather weak; small orbital did not notice duplicity. Sma)1er res- experienced observers are more likely motion could have a large effect. Eit- olutions can be achieved as grazing to notice phenomena indicating possi- ter and Beavers' Fick-McOonald solu- conditions are approached. Probably ble duplicity. Large numbers of obser- tion, besides being nearly simultane" neither neither the geometry nor the vations are also reported from Engel- otis, also had the advantage of a large atmospheric conditions were as favora- hardt Observatory in Kazan, Tatar Re- position difference. Fick observations ble in September as they were in june public, and Abasttmani Observatory in of SAD 76103 and 146239 showed no con- for Mr. Price. the Georgian S.S.R. Significant num- vincing evidence for duplicity, al- bers of observations are made at many though other photoelectric observa- During the occultation of ZC 146 on longitudes in the Soviet Union, In- tions do. 76)03 was observed the same 1976 December 29, both Robert Sandy cluding across Siberia. This certainly night by McGraw, Moffat, and me at and Ldrry Yoksh, observing from sites helps the worldwide coverage of occu)- Tonantzintla (the star is in the PIe- in Kansas City about 13 miles apart, tation work. The duplicity of ZC 651 lades), where the position angle was noticed the bright star disappear in was noted by Sincheskul on 1975 Febru- nearly perpendicular to that at Fick steps. Richard Nolthenius noticed ary 19, one-month before Robert Sandy Observatory.. The observations would nothing unusual during the same occul- independently discovered it during a therefore be consistent if the actual tation in San Diego, and the companion graze (G. n. i, #4, p. 36). This adds separation and position angle were .was not evident in a photoelectric further confirmation to the idea that nearly equal to the projected values record obtained at McOonald Observa- the companion was not recorded photo- observed at Tonantzintla. tory through clouds. ZC 146, ZC 1)47, ' electrically at McDonald in 1975 March and some of the other stars given in because their record stopped too ear- Several observers of the 1976 August the list will be occulted several ly. I noted possible duplicity of ZC 29 grazing occultation of Spica in times during 1977; observers should 1429 during a graze on 1974 April 4, Florida noticed dinning phenomena and check their predictions and attempt but it was also noted in Poland and some events occurring in steps, adding observations which could add confirma- Kiev four months earlier. Their data confirmation for the companion discov- tion or denial to the suspected du- }10 P , . plicity of these stars. graze observations, where the resolu- in many cases. Fading occultations has tion is so good that diffraction ef- been adopted as an official Lunar Sec- During the spectacular graze of d Sag- fects can be noticed visually at some tion project, and literature searches ittarfi (ZC 2826) last November, most contacts. Very favorable occultations for early observations have been plan- of the contacts I observed were sharp. and grazes of ZC 2826 will occur dur- ned. I have comnunicated with Mr. A- However, I saw four sudden fading phe- ing March and October this year in mery, who has supplied more comprehen- nomena as the star moved along a rath- North America. sive observational data about the er flat but hflly part of the profile probable duplicity of ZC 2774 (SAD which produced 12 other contacts in In a letter published in the )976 Aug- 162133), which indicates a separation little more than d minute. Most other ust issue of the journal of the Brit- of about O:'OS projected in P.A. 19°..r observers of the graze noticed no dim- ish Astron. Association, G. Id. Amery, mfngs, all events being sharp. I am Occultations Co-ordinator for the Lu- A possible companion at least 30" away rather convinced that the fadings I nar Section of the B.A.A., noted that from ZC 2079 was noticed during a saw were due to diffraction as the all anomalous behavior at lunar occul- graze in South Africa, as reported on star passed very close to lunar hills; tations must be due to either stellar, p. 85 of the last issue. Wayne Warren isolated gradual (not stepwise) events lunar, or terrestrial causes, and that could find no evidence for such a star seen during other very favorable graz- coordinated observations could help brighter than about 15th magnitude es can be similarly explained. So one answer these questions. Stellar du- when he examined the Palomar Sky Sur- must be careful when interpreting plicity was noted as a probable cause vey print of the vicinity of ZC 2079. NEW ZODIACAL SPECIAL DOUBLE STARS, 1977 JANUARY 30 SAO/BD ZC M N m KAG2 SEP PA MAG3 SEP3 PA3 DATE, DISCOVERER, NOTES 75755 0459 PK 7.} 8.1 o:'i 77" )973 Dec 8, J. Eitter and Id. Beavers, Ames, IA 76475 E Correct double star code error in Stockbauer list 76545 T K 8.9 8.9 0.1 90 1973 Mar 10, A. Zhitetski, Kiev, Ukraine, USSR 76726 0712 T K 9.5 9.5 0.) 90 )975 Apr 15, A. Zhitetski, Kiev, Ukraine, USSR 76909 T K 9.2 9.2 0.25 90 1973 Apr 7, B. Sinchesku1, Poltava, Ukraine, USSR 77038 PK 9.4 10.3 0.19 250 1973 jan 16, J. Eitter and 1L Beavers, Ames, IA 77219 V A 8.8 10.8 4.5 165 A.D.S. 4105. Not in previous lists 77971 0923 T K 7.7 7.7 0.1 90 1973 Apr 8, A. Dobrovolski, Odessa, Ukraine, USSR 78)68 0954 T K 6.9 6.9 0.1 90 1973 Apr 19, A. Zhitetski, Kiev, Ukraine, USSR 78592 T X )0.0 70.0 0.1 90 1974 Mar 3, B. Sinchesku), Po)tava, Ukraine, USSR 78733 PX 8.9 9.0 .034 )27 1972 Oct 27, J. Eitter and hi. Beavers, Ames, IA 78953 T V 9.5 9.5 0.1 270 1973 Oct 18, A. Zhitetski, Kiev, Ukraine, USSR 78992 1069 T K 8.8 8.8 0.1 90 1973 Apr 9, A. Osipov, Kiev, Ukraine, USSR 79031 1077 T Y 4.5 4.5 0.1 90 1).7 gg'; 348° 1973 Dec 11, I. Edanchuk, Chernigov, Russia, USSR (2nd*; ADS 5742) 79040 P V 9.4 10.0 0.)4 144 )972 Sept 30, J. Eitter and hi. Beavers, Ames, IA 79100 PV 10.2 )0.5 .039 89 )974 Aug 29, A. Roland Quintanila, Sierra Nevada Observatory, Spain 7932) T X 9.8 9.8 0.] 90 )973 Mar 13, B. Sincheskul, Poltava, Ukraine, USSR 79403 1129 P L 5.9 6.4 .DO) 7.5 :'047 124 1972 Nov 24, Eitter and Beavers, Ames, IA (3rd*; spec. bin. & ADS 6089) 92486 P X 8.6 9.8 0.49 5 1972 Dec 16, J. Eitter and Id. Beavers, Ames, IA 92493 T K 9.6 9.6 0.1 270 1975 July 3, A. Zhitetski, Kiev, Ukraine, USSR 93046 PK 9.3 10.9 0.)3 288 )973 Feb 10, J. Eitter and It Beavers, Ames, IA 9305) PK 9.2 1).3 0.27 118 1973 Feb 10, J. Eitter and It Beavers, Ames, IA 93386 0480 T K 8.1 8.) 0.1 90 1975 Feb 18, M. Fedynin, Tomsk, Siberia, USSR 96178 T K 9.2 9.2 0.1 270 1975 Sept 28, A. Zhitetski, Kiev, Ukraine, USSR 97016 ))47 T V 5.4 7.0 0.)5 236 1976 Oct 16, R. Sandy, Kansas City, MO 97084 T K 9.8 9.8 0.1 270 )974 Sept 12, A. Zhitetski, Kiev, Ukraine, USSR 972)0 G V 9.4 10.0 0.04 20 1976 Oct 16, R. Nolthenius, Suharita, AZ 97348 7190 T Y 7.9 7.9 0.1 90 11.1 )5.9 20 1975 Mar 22, A. Efimov, Ulyanovsk, Russia, USSR (2nd*; ADS 6440) 97442 T K 9.0 9.0 0.2 90 1975 Mar 22, B. S'incheskul, Poltava, Ukraine, USSR 97843 1271 T X 6.2 7.0 3. 90 1976 Apr 29, E. Przybyl, Rafaela, Argentina 109627 0146 T K 5.2 5.2 0.25 29 1976 Dec 29, R. Sandy, Kansas City, MO 109763 T X 9.2 9.2 0.2 67 1976 Dec 2, J. Van Nuland, San Jose, CA 1099?3 P K 9.0 10.0 .034 202 )976 Nov 5, J. Africano, McOonald Observatory, TX )17851 1429 T X 7.6 7.6 0.05 80 1974 Jan 10, M. bliniarski, Fort Skala, Poland (see o. n., i, n, p. 5) 1)8103 P L 9.4 9.5 0.06 299 10.5 0.27 299 1972 May 20, J. Eitter and Id. Beaver, Ames, IA 13872} 1772 I V 4.4 5.4 .)18 }50 1976.04, H. McAlister, Kitt Peak National Observatory, AZ 139005 T V 9.6 9.6 0.2 88 )976 Aug 1, R. Sandy, Kansas City, MO 139033 1853 P V 5.0 8.3 .040 no 1975 May 21, A. Walker, Suther7and, South Africa 139189 1891 I T 4.8 5.8 .485 142 9.4 7.1 343 1976.04, H. McAlister, Kitt Peak Nat. Observatory, AZ (2nd*; ADS 8801) )46045 G V 8.5 9.5 0.4 150 1976 Nov 1, R. Nolthenius, Picacho, AZ 158995 T K 8.7 8.7 0.05 60 1976 Sept 26, H. Povemire, Indian Harbour Beach, FL 159752 T X 9.3 70.5 0.25 348 1976 Sept 28, R. Nolthenius, Tucson, AZ 16)153 2629 P T 7.2 8.5 .024 321 7.3 1.0 195 1976 Sept 30, J. Africano, McOonald Observatory, TX (2nd*; ADS 11127) 16)190 T X 8.3 9.5 0.12 304 1976 Sept 30, R. Nolthenius, Tucson, AZ 161400 T K 9.4 10.1 0.2 228 1976 Nov 24, R. Nolthenius, Tucson, AZ 161436 T K 8.5 9.0 2.5 274 1976 Sept 3, R. Sandy, Kansas City, MO 162611 T K 9.6 9.9 0.15 228 1976 Nov 25, R. Nolthenius, Tucson, AZ )63192 - T Y 9.1 9.1 0.25 90 9.0 16.8 135 1974 Sept 25, B. Sincheskul, Poltava, Ukraine, USSR (2nd*) )63460 T K 9.4 10.1 0.15 250 1976 Nov 26, R. Nolthenius, Tucson, AZ 16347) 2968 T Y 7.2 7.2 0.05 91 9.0 0.8 84 1976 Nov 26, R. Nolthenius, Tucson, AZ (2nd*; ADS 13717) 163532 2975 T K 7.8 7.8 0.05 20 1976 Nov 26, R. Nolthenius, Tucsoni AZ 163848 3029 T K 7.7 7.7 0.1 90 1973 Oct 6, S. Fokas, Uzhgorod, Ukraine, USSR 184634 T X 8.4 8.4 0.1 53 1976 Aug 5, R. Sandy, Kansas City, MO +23°13)1 T X 9.0 9.0 0.25 90 1973 Mar 12, B. Sincheskul, Po)tava, Ukraine, USSR "21°1317 T X 10.) 10.1 0.15 0 1974 Mar 3, B. Sincheskul, Poltava, Ukraine, USSR +12°)926 T V 10:0 10.0 0.05 30 1976 June 3, R. Price, Garland, TX (star is in M67) -19°4904 T X 9.8 )0.7 0.05 309 1976 Sept 30, R. Nolthenius, Tucson, AZ -19°4920 T X ]0.1 10.3 0.91 230 ?976 Sept 30, R. Nolthenius, Tucson, AZ Anonymous-l T K 10.8 lC!.8 0.25 90 1973 Apr 8, B. Sincheskul, Poltava, Ukraine, USSR Anonymus-2 T K 10.6 10.5 0.25 " 90 1973 Mar 13, B. Sincheskul, Poltava, Ukraine, USSR Anonymous-3 T K 10.3 10.3 0.25 90 1973 Jan 7, B. Sinchesku1, Poltava, Ukraine, USSR