Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Occultation even without binoculars

For all those living in southwest Georgia and northeast Florida this evening might become a very special one. Because around 8:56 pm of their local time, they'll be able to see the Iota Cancri star blink out due to Xanthe asteroid passing in front of it.
This event is called an occultation. Asteroid's orbit passes right in front of a star, and the star appears to wink out or drop in brightness. Because asteroids are small, a specific occultation can only be seen along a narrow corridor.
Iota Cancri is a visible star, shining at magnitude of 4.2, so it means that it'll be easy visible from dark skies without even your observation binoculars. But if you live in a big city, you'll definitely need a pair of binoculars in order to see it more clearly.

Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy it tonight. Good luck!
 
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