Occultation of BY Cancri by Saturn, 2005 January 25

[Whitters]

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BAA electronic bulletin No. 00215            http://www.britastro.org/
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On Wednesday, 2005 January 25 the 8th magnitude star BY Cancri (08h 42m.2,
+18d 56') will be occulted by Saturn and its rings. Ingress behind the
rings starts around 1840UT when Saturn is quite low in the east. Final
egress from the body of the planet will occur around 2052UT when the
altitude from southern England is around 38 degrees.

Further details of this event will be circulated on this list nearer to
the time but the reason for this bulletin is to request a volunteer who
would be able to webcast the event to the BAA Ordinary Meeting which will
be taking place during the occultation. This will be the first meeting at
the new Guy's Hospital venue (http://www.britastro.org/main/meetings.html)
and we are currently trying to arrange for Internet access in the
auditorium. If this is possible then it would be good to have a live video
feed of the event projected onto the main screen at key points during the
meeting.

In order to webcast this event you will need to have experience of
planetary imaging using a webcam or similar attached to a telescope.
Obtaining an image of Saturn and BY Cnc at the same time is likely to be
challenging due to the magnitude difference but a good practice target
before the event would be Titan. Clearly it will only be possible to
webcast the video if you have a broadband Internet connection to your
observing site and you have the appropriate software. There are several
programs that can be used to take the webcam video and stream it out over
the web and the undersigned would be happy to help if you have any
technical questions.

If you have the necessary equipment and experience and would like to be
involved in what is likely to be a "first" for the BAA (weather and
Internet connection permitting) I would be very pleased to hear from you.

Nick James
Papers Secretary.

[Ian]

they do mean 2006 don't they?

[Rick]

I hope so. I don't have a TARDIS.

[Ian]

thats a shame, we could go take a closer look...

[Rick]

Here's an update: BAA electronic bulletin No. 00218

The planet Saturn and rings will occult the star BY Cancri (SAO 98054) on the evening of Wednesday 25 January 2006, the event being visible from the UK.

The approximate times of the occultation are 18h 50m to 20h 50m UT and the opening stages of the event will find Saturn rather low in the sky for observers in the UK, though conditions will improve in this respect as the event progresses.

BY Cancri is a Delta Scuti type variable star of approx. visual magnitude 7.9, making it slightly brighter than Saturn's largest moon Titan, and is located near the edge of the open cluster M44. Exact times will vary according to observing station, but the star will intercept the outer edge of Ring A at approx. 18h 50m UT, and will transit the Cassini Division at approx. 19h 01 - 06m UT. The star will reappear at the south polar limb of Saturn at approx. 20h 50m UT.

Following the passage of the star behind the rings will present a challenge but visual observers and imagers are strongly recommended to try, and exciting possibilities to record the event may well be present for suitably equipped observers versed in state of the art electronic imaging techniques.

Further information on the event may be found on the SPA Occultation  Section web site maintained by Jon Harper, the link for which is http://www.popastro.com/sections/occ.htm

The BAA Saturn Section welcomes observations of the event, which may be mailed or sent electronically to the Section Director at the address given below.

David Graham
95 Hillshaw Park Way
Ripon
North Yorkshire
HG4 1JU