This list of events is an opportunity to explore asteroid's environment. Most events were obtained thanks to orbital solutions computed within the Genoid project. Satellites of asteroids are poorly known compared with their primary. By exploring these systems with stellar occultations we learn about size and shape, putative atmosphere, and ring existence. The relative position of the component can be used to improve the dynamical model, thus, the knowledge of the center of mass.

Observing a stellar occultation by a satellite is a real challenge. Owing to their small size, the frequency of the data acquisition must be high. Similarly to stellar occultation by the primary component, the uncertainty on star or primary position on sky can shift the path on earth by dozens of kilometers.

These predictions were computed by David Herald's Occult Software who added the possibility to use the orbital solutions by Genoid for satellite of asteroids. You can reproduce the prediction or use this web page to find a non exhaustive list of events. For some events, we plan to use the 1m Telescope at Pic du Midi to perform astrometric observations of the asteroid and the occulted star to improve the predictions.

The dynamical model is based on a full or fragmented set of astrometric data for a shortlist of 18 asteroids and 22 satellites. The scope of this work focus on the relative position between the satellite and the primary. For a specific stellar occultation, you have to shift the position of the satellite, you may have to adapt the predicted path of the satellite, using a more recent prediction of the occultation by the primary.

Always check latest prediction for primary.

Enjoy !

Take a look to give you an idea on the accuracy of orbit computing.

The table of predictions includes the name of system occulting the star, the date & time of the event, the star's magnitude, a column named precision, and a flag giving the next event or a world map. The column named "precision" shows an estimation of the quality of the orbit. If the system is uncertain the giving precision is directly Poor. If the satellite is quite well known we can estimate the size of the 1-σ area in the tangent plane of Bessel. We obtain an estimation in kilometer. You have to include the uncertainties from the position of the star and the primary to have the complete estimation of errors.

Direct link to the prediction's page :