~ ¥ ~ ~L9' Ocmthtion3Newstetter Volume IV, Number 2 December, 1986 ISSN 0737-6766 Occultation Newsletter is published by the International Occultation Timing Association. Editor and compos- itor: H. F. DaBo11; 6N106 White Oak Lane; St. Charles, IL 60174; U.S.A. Please send editorial matters, new and renewal memberships and subscriptions, back issue requests, address changes, graze prediction requests, reimbursement requests, special requests, and other IOTA business, but not observation reports, to the above. FROM THE PUBLISHER IOTA NEWS This is the fourth issue of 1986. Please note the David W. Dunham membership and subscription price rate changes. This issue is a few weeks later than I intended. when renewing, please give your name and address exactly as they ap- The production of the enclosed grazing occultation pear on your mailing label, so that we can locate your file; if the supplement, and distribution of data for 1987 grazes label should be revised, tell us how it should be changed. to the computors, took longer than I expected. The If you wish, you may use your VISA or MasterCard for payments to IOTA; latter was partly caused by the software problems at include the account number, the expiration date, and your signature. the U. S. Naval Observatory (USNO), described in Card users must pay the full prices. If paying by cash, check, or o.n. 3 (16), 343, which have been fixed (see p. 23), money order, please pay only the discount prices. Full Discount and partly to the bringing on line of three new price price graze computors (thanks in large part to Donald Oli- IOTA membership dues (incl. o.n. and any supplements) ver's efforts; see p. 25). Although Stamm's and for U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico $12.50 $12.00 for all others (to cover higher postage COSts) 17.71 17.00 Stockbauer's articles on observations are now over a month out-of-date, they will soon have another Occulcation Newsletter subscriptionl (I year = 4 issues) by surface mail chance to bring things up-to-date. Sometime in De- for U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico2 8.33 8.00 cember, two or three weeks after this issue, we plan fOr all others 8.17 7.84 to distribute the next issue (number 3), that will by air (AO) maiV for area "A"' 9.96 9.56 include my article on asteroidal and planetary oc- for area "g"5 11.38 10.92 cultations for 1987, and Goffin's asteroidal occul- for all other countries ]2.79 12.28 tation supplement for North American subscribers. Back isSues of o.n. by surface mail We received Goffin's material in October, and David o.n. I (i) thru o.n. 2 ()3), each 1.04 ).00 Werner has added constellation boundaries, Greek o.n. 2 (14) thru o.n. 3 (13), each 1.46 1.40 q.n. 3 (14) and later issues, each 1.82 1.75 letters, and Flamsteed numbers to the 15° charts so Back issues of o.n. by air (AO) maiP that they will not need to be published separately, o.n. I (I) thru o.n. 2 ()3), each 1.51 1.45 as was the case for 1986. For preliminary planning O.N. 2 (14) thru o.n. 3 (13), each 1.93 1.85 o..v. 3 (14) and later issues, each 2.29 2.20 purposes, in January, some of the better events in- (There are 16 issues per volume, all still available) clude ones on the 4th [14h U.T., 11.5-mag. LS 2488 and (159) Aemilia, nominal path in Alaska and west- Although they are available to IOTA members without ern Canada]; the 11th [13h, 7.6-mag. SAD 109035 and charge, non-members must pay for the following items: Local circumstance (asteroidal appulse) predictions Mars, India and China]; 13th [2h, 6.3-mag. SAD (entire current list for your area) 1,04 1.00 183058 and (54) Alexandra, S. Africa]; 25th [Oh, Graze limit and profile prediction (each graze) 1.56 1.50 Papers explaining the use of the predictions 2.60 2.50 8.0-mag. SAD 58556A and (471) Papagena, Canary Is. and n.e. U.S.A.; and 10h, 9.I-mag. SAD 98160 and Supplements for South America will be available at extra cost through (30) Urania, U.S.A. FL to CA and east Siberia]; and Ignacio Ferrin (Apartado 700; Merida 5IO]-A; Venezuela), for Europe through Roland Boninsegna (Rue dc Mariembourg, 33; 8-6381 DOURBES; 27th [21h, 10.9-mag. A.C. star and (704) Interamnia, Belgium), for southern Africa, through M. D. 'Overbeek (Box 212; Eden- U.S.S.R. and northern Europe]. vale 1610; Republic of South Africa), for Australia and New Zealand, through Graham Blow (P.0. Box 2241; Wellington; New Zealand), for Ja- 146,pan, japarj.throu h ToshioSupplementsHirosefor(1-13all Shimomarukoother areas l-chome;will be availableOta-ku, Tokyofrom price increases. It is again necessary to raise membership and subscription prices, effective with Jim Sum (Route 13, Box 109; London, KV 40741; U.S.A.) by surface mail at the low price of ).23 1.18 publication of this issue; see "From the Publisher," Or by air (AO) mail at 2.04 1.96 on this page. Observers from Europe and the British Isles should join iota/es, send- ing DM 50.-- to Hans-j. Bode, Bartold-knaust Str. 8, 3000 Hannover 9), Aurora event, Nov. 4. Unfortunately, I will not German Federal Republic. Full membership in IOTA/ES includes the sup- have time to write an article on astrometric updates plement for European observers. for asteroidal occultations for this issue, but hope i Single issue available at k of price shown. to include it next time. In spite of quite a bit of 2 Price includes any supplements for North American observers. activity, only one event this year has been found to 3 Not available for U.S.A., Canada, or Mexico. be favorable for much of the U.S.A. This was the " Area "A" includes Central America, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Carib- bean islands, Bahamas, Bermuda, Colombia, and Venezuela. If desired, occultation of SAD 79994 by (94) Aurora on November area "A" observers may order the supplement for NOrth American observ- 4. According to a Lowell Observatory plate, the ers by surface mail @ 1.23 1.18 path shift was 0'.'39 north, crossing the continent or by air (AO) mail @ 1.56 1.50 s Area "B" includes the rest of South America, Mediterranean Africa, from Baja California to Labrador. I got the result and Europe (except Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and U.S.S.R.). of the Oct. 28th plate on the 29th, and spent all 21 22 that night and much of the next day preparing, du- graze supplement). This distance should be 500 plicating, and distributing 200 notices of the event miles minus the observer's travel radius to ensure to o.n. subscribers, Astronomical League club corre- complete coverage. Nye can now check this, and add spondents (Alcors), academic astronomy departments, the station to an adjacent region, if needed, for and others in and near the path. Incredibly, it was complete coverage. cloudy over virtually the entire path, from the Tuc- son, AZ, area to Labrador. It was clear in Baja Pluto. According to an article in the Washington California, and it also cleared up across most of post on November lOth, Manfred Paku11 and Klaus Wisconsin, where observers as far south as Milwaukee Reinsch recorded an eclipse of Charon by Pluto at (near the updated southern limit) saw no occulta- the European Southern Observatory. Analysis of tion. Unfortunately, it was still overcast just a their data shows that Pluto's diameter is only 2212 little farther south, where the actual path probably km, so that the planet's density is greater, more was located. like the rocky terrestrial planets than like ice. IOTA enclosures. With this issue, IOTA members are Galilean mutual events. A comprehensive set of ob- also being sent a roster of members and direct o.n. servations of mutual occultations and eclipses of subscribers prepared by DaBo11, and an IOTA sticker the Galilean Satellites during ]985 and 1986, re- (4-inch or 10.16-cm diameter) whose production was corded photoelectrically at Sutherland, has been arranged by joan Dunham. Non-members can obtain published by Iain M. Coulson in Mon. Not. Astron. these from DaBo11 — rosters: in North America 75¢, Soc. Southern Africa 45 (7 & 8), 77. In September, elsewhere $1.30 by A.0. mail — stickers: in North 1985, I videorecorded an eclipse of Europa by Iq. America 50¢, or 25¢ and a SASE (up to 8 @ 25¢ each The observations will be useful to improve the or- will go in a sub. 20 41/8 x 9j5 envelope without ex- bits to support the Galileo mission. Brian Loader, tra postage), elsewhere 75¢ each by air mail. 14 Heathglen Avenue, Christchurch 9, New Zealand, also collects timings of eclipses by Jupiter; he astrocon 86. An IOTA session was held in Baltimore, can provide report forms. On p. 73 of the same is- MD, on August 8th, during the Astronomical League's sue of m.n.a.s.s.a., T. P. Cooper sumarizes the ev- 40th annual convention: see Sky and Telescope 72 idence for binary asteroids from light curves (some (S), 520. No business was conducted, but five sci- of these have been rejected by others on dynamical entific papers were given: "Eclipse Solar Diameter grounds) and occultations, and encourages observa- Measurements" by Joan Dunham, paul Maley, and me; tions of close asteroidal appulses.