Occultation event with (3240) Laocoon, event index number 4516
Regions able to see the event: Australia
Geocentric closest approach at 2026/10/29 16:11:28 UTC
J2000 position of star is 04:58:44.1 +24:42:16
Equinox of date position of star is 05:00:22.5 +24:44:36
Star is 8 degrees from the moon. Moon is 84% illuminated.
Stellar brightness G=14.3, apparent brightess of occulting body is G=15.6
Use an exposure time of 0.40 seconds with the standard RECON-QHY system.
SNR of 10.0 per integration for unocculted signal
Expected flux drop is 78% with SNR of 7.8 for the occulted depth (per occulted point)
Apparent velocity is 11.0 km/sec on the sky relative to the star, or, 11.8 arcsec/hr.
Position angle of asteroid motion is 85.3 degrees
The recommended exposure time corresponds to 4.4 km per image.
The 1-sigma error in the time of the event is 0.5 seconds.
The 1-sigma cross-track error in the shadow position is 33.5 km.
The sky-plane scale is 3371.0 km/arcsec.
Diameter estimates:
52.7 km assuming a 5% albedo, maximum of 4.8 sec for a central chord
21.5 km assuming a 30% albedo, maximum of 1.9 sec for a central chord
Cross-track diameter of 51.7 km used for deployment plan.
Star training set for 3240_Laocoon, (2026/10/29 16:11UT) Object RA Dec mag sep mel Aldebaran 04:37:27.8 +16:33:40 0.8 9.78 17 Alnath 05:27:59.4 +28:37:39 1.6 7.29 2 98 Tau 04:59:48.1 +25:05:22 5.8 0.37 8 PPM 093936 05:00:31.0 +24:32:04 8.4 0.21 8 3240_Laocoon 05:00:22.5 +24:44:36 15.6 8 Positions are for equinox of date
Star training set for 3240_Laocoon, (2026/10/29 16:11UT) Object RA Dec mag sep mel Aldebaran 04:35:55.4 +16:30:29 0.8 9.78 17 Alnath 05:26:17.6 +28:36:22 1.6 7.29 2 98 Tau 04:58:09.4 +25:03:00 5.8 0.37 8 PPM 093936 04:58:52.8 +24:29:45 8.4 0.21 8 3240_Laocoon 04:58:44.1 +24:42:16 15.6 8 Positions are for J2000