Occultation event with (5120) Bitias, event index number 1288
Regions able to see the event: US
Geocentric closest approach at 2025/09/16 00:21:18 UTC
J2000 position of star is 01:57:10.0 +42:48:02
Equinox of date position of star is 01:58:44.7 +42:55:30
Star is 62 degrees from the moon. Moon is 33% illuminated.
Stellar brightness G=15.2, apparent brightess of occulting body is G=15.5
Use an exposure time of 1.10 seconds with the standard RECON-QHY system.
SNR of 9.3 per integration for unocculted signal
Expected flux drop is 57% with SNR of 5.3 for the occulted depth (per occulted point)
Apparent velocity is 10.9 km/sec on the sky relative to the star, or, 12.3 arcsec/hr.
Position angle of asteroid motion is 121.2 degrees
The recommended exposure time corresponds to 12.0 km per image.
The 1-sigma error in the time of the event is 0.8 seconds.
The 1-sigma cross-track error in the shadow position is 33.7 km.
The sky-plane scale is 3183.8 km/arcsec.
Diameter estimates:
50.8 km assuming a 5% albedo, aximum of 4.7 sec for a central chord
20.8 km assuming a 30% albedo, maximum of 1.9 sec for a central chord
Cross-track diameter of 48.0 km used for deployment plan.
Star training set for 5120_Bitias, (2025/09/16 00:21UT) Object RA Dec mag sep mel Aldebaran 04:37:23.9 +16:33:32 0.8 42.74 35 57Gam1And 02:05:29.3 +42:27:06 2.3 1.33 61 PPM 044319 01:43:21.8 +42:44:29 5.6 2.83 65 PPM 044574 01:57:20.7 +42:58:10 7.7 0.26 62 PPM 044581 01:57:55.2 +42:58:48 8.8 0.16 62 PPM 044610 01:59:17.3 +42:50:06 11.0 0.13 62 5120_Bitias 01:58:44.7 +42:55:30 15.5 62 Positions are for equinox of date
Star training set for 5120_Bitias, (2025/09/16 00:21UT) Object RA Dec mag sep mel Aldebaran 04:35:55.4 +16:30:29 0.8 42.74 35 57Gam1And 02:03:54.1 +42:19:46 2.3 1.33 61 PPM 044319 01:41:49.0 +42:36:44 5.6 2.83 65 PPM 044574 01:55:46.1 +42:50:40 7.7 0.26 62 PPM 044581 01:56:20.5 +42:51:19 8.8 0.16 62 PPM 044610 01:57:42.5 +42:42:38 11.0 0.13 62 5120_Bitias 01:57:10.0 +42:48:02 15.5 62 Positions are for J2000