------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1161 1997 Jan 21 19.21UT Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP,England.Telephone/FAX(01256)471074Int:+441256471074 INTERNET: GUY@TAHQ.DEMON.CO.UK GMH at AST.STAR.RL.AC.UK WORLD WIDE WEB http://www.demon.co.uk/astronomer ------------------------------------------------------------------- OCCULTATION OF PPM 156720 BY (50) VIRGINIA Martin Federspiel,Astronomisches Institut,der Universitaet Basel e-mails: Shortly before midnight UT on 1997 January 22/23 the minor planet Virginia occults the star PPM 156720 =3D SAO 118227. Virginia has been observed with the Carlsberg Automatic Meridian Circle (CAMC) on La Palma for the last six years. These very accurate observations, which include a few very recent ones, allow a redetermination of the orbit from CAMC positions only. With the recalculated orbit the occultation path shifts north by about 0.36" compared to E. Goffin's nominal prediction. The central European part of the updated path is about 100 km wide and goes as follows: Black Sea, 45 km north east of Praha, north of Chemnitz (D), Goettingen (D), Bielefeld (D), north of Enschede (NL),south of Den Helder (NL), LEEDS (GB), BELFAST (Northern Ireland). The complete line is listed in the table below. However, this last-minute prediction need not be very accurate since there is no CAMC position of the *star*. The possible error is still a few 0.1" or several 100 km to the north or south of the above line. The star has a V magnitude of 9.3 mag, the dimming during the occultation will be about 4.5 mag in V. The Moon is nearly full and 38 deg away in the sky. Central line for an occultation by (50) Virginia (50) Virginia occults PPM 156720 (J2000 RA 10 19 55.184 DE+8 14 35.72, PPM) Virginia improved orbit from CAMC positions only, PPM star position Minimum geocentric distance: date: 1997 1 22 time: 23 43 6.UT; d=3D2.26", PW=3D22.60 deg, pi=3D4.20",= mu=3D26.70"/h substellar point on earth (lat., long.), PA of least distance: 8.26 36.82 22.60 Lat. Long. hh:mm:ss UT StarAlt=B0 StarAzi=B0 SunAlt=B0 SunAzi=B0 35.50 57.66 23:42:17. ! 56.9 219.6 -43.2 83.8 36.42 55.50 23:42:36. ! 57.2 215.5 -44.7 81.5 37.34 53.32 23:42:55. ! 57.3 211.3 -46.2 79.1 38.26 51.12 23:43:14. ! 57.3 207.0 -47.7 76.4 39.17 48.89 23:43:32. ! 57.2 202.7 -49.1 73.6 40.08 46.62 23:43:51. ! 57.0 198.4 -50.4 70.6 40.99 44.31 23:44:10. ! 56.6 194.0 -51.6 67.3 41.89 41.95 23:44:29. ! 56.0 189.7 -52.8 63.8 42.80 39.54 23:44:48. ! 55.4 185.5 -53.9 60.1 43.70 37.06 23:45: 7. ! 54.6 181.3 -54.9 56.1 44.60 34.51 23:45:26. ! 53.6 177.1 -55.8 51.8 45.49 31.88 23:45:45. ! 52.6 173.0 -56.6 47.2 46.38 29.16 23:46: 3. ! 51.4 169.0 -57.3 42.4 47.27 26.34 23:46:22. ! 50.1 165.0 -57.8 37.2 48.15 23.40 23:46:41. ! 48.7 161.0 -58.2 31.7 49.02 20.32 23:46:60. ! 47.2 157.1 -58.4 26.0 49.88 17.09 23:47:19. ! 45.6 153.1 -58.4 20.0 50.72 13.68 23:47:38. ! 43.8 149.1 -58.2 13.7 51.56 10.07 23:47:57. ! 41.9 145.0 -57.8 7.3 52.37 6.22 23:48:15. ! 39.9 140.9 -57.1 .6 53.15 2.10 23:48:34. ! 37.7 136.6 -56.2 353.7 53.90 -2.36 23:48:53. ! 35.3 132.1 -55.0 346.6 54.61 -7.22 23:49:12. ! 32.7 127.4 -53.5 339.3 55.26 -12.58 23:49:31. ! 29.8 122.4 -51.7 331.7 55.82 -18.60 23:49:50. ! 26.6 116.8 -49.4 323.7 Guy M Hurst