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Eurybates Occultation 2024-03-25 (G* = 11.8)

The interactive map below shows our current prediction for the occultation by (3548) Eurybates on 2024 March 25 UT. The prediction is based on a Gaia eDR3 position for the star, corrected for parallax and proper motion, and the v20240321182137 orbit estimate for Eurybates, which is derived from eurybates_20240320a.bsp. This ephemeris has a 1-sigma crosstrack uncertainty of 5.5 km and a 1-sigma downtrack uncertainty of 1.3 sec for this event.

The geocentric mid-time of the event is 06:17:05.8 UT. The J2000 star position is RA 09:07:29.1 (9.1247636), Dec +26:07:46 (26.129491), and its magnitude is 13.71. Eurybates is moving at 6.0 km/s with respect to the star and its along-track diameter is estimated to be 55-60 km, so central chords are expected to last 9.2-10 seconds. The estimated cross-track diameter is estimated to be 68 km.

At the time of the occultation, the target star will be 53.5 degrees from the (100% illuminated) Moon. The predicted magnitude of Eurybates is 16.96, so it will be 20 times fainter than the star it is occulting.

Of-date coordinates for the target star on event night are RA 09:08:54.5 (9.1484722), Dec +26:01:51 (26.030833).

Updated: Mar 21, 2024

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