Lunar Grazing Occultation Maps for 2007 - Updated 2007 Aug. 29
by Eberhard Riedel
Below are links to maps and data for maps of the brighter lunar grazing occultations during 2007. There are 4 maps of the world showing grazing occultations of stars brighter than mag. 3.0. There are also two maps of Europe, and one each of eastern Australia and New Zealand, showing favorable grazes of stars of mag. 5.5 and brighter. For each area, there is a table of all of the plotted grazes giving basic information, and there is a much more extensive text file giving detailed path data and circumstances at 1-degree intervals of longitude. Similar maps for North America, including stars to 7th mag., are below and have been published in the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada's Observer's Handbook 2007 on pages 136 - 151, and a map showing just the brighter events, to about mag. 5.5, has been published in the January 2007 issue of Sky and Telescope, in my "Lunar Occultation Highlights for 2007" article. This update adds maps showing grazes of stars of mag. 9.0 and brighter that will occur during the total lunar eclipses of March 3/4 and August 28. In the maps you only find solid lines now, and the phases of each event are distinguished by color: - nighttime dark limb: black - nighttime bright limb: yellow - daytime dark- and bright limb: light blue. I use thick lines for all occulted bodies 1.5 mag. and brighter. Much information about observing occultations of all types is in "Chasing the Shadow: The IOTA Occultation Observer's Manual" available for free download here. __________________________________ Worldwide grazing occultations to mag. 3.0 Table Map, Jan.-March Map, April-June Map, July-Sept. Map, Oct.-Dec. Path data ___________________________________ Grazing occultations in North America to mag. 7.5 Table The maps for North America are not color coded like the others. The dark limb at night grazes are shown with solid lines, those on the bright limb at night are shown with dashed lines, and those during the day are shown as dotted (actually, with small vertical lines) lines. Map, Jan. 1 - Feb. 15 Map, Feb. 16 - March 15 Map, March 16 - May 15 Map, May 16 - June 30 Map, July 1 - Aug. 31 Map, Sept. 1 - Oct. 14 Map, Oct. 15 - Nov. 25 Map, Nov. 26 - Dec. 31 Path data for Jan. 1 - Feb. 15 Path data for Feb. 16 - March 15 Path data for March 16 - May 15 Path data for May 16 - June 30 Path data for July 1 - Aug. 31 Path data for Sept. 1 - Oct. 14 Path data for Oct. 15 - Nov. 25 Path data for Nov. 26 - Dec. 31 The maps of these North American grazes, and the tables, but not the path data, are on Bob Sandy's page of the main IOTA Web site. Besides this information, also available on that Web page are predictions of total lunar occultations for 40 major North American cities and the detailed IOTA graze predictions and profiles within 200 miles of Bob Sandy's home in Blue Springs, MO, just east of Kansas City. Also there is a list of all known successful grazing occultation expeditions, as published in Occultation Newsletter, that were conducted between 1974 and 1986. Reduction profiles (plots of the observations relative to Watts' charts of the edge of the Moon), most prepared by Bob Sandy, are also available for many of the larger graze expeditions. You can zoom in on some of these paths using Brad Timerson's interactive Google maps Web site. But you need to know the offsets for the graze zone in your area; we can help you determine that. Brad can usually add events not on his Web site by request to him at btimerson@rochester.rr.com . These are for the eastern U.S.A. and Canada; Derek Breit often posts similar information for western U.S.A. grazes here, usually in the Regional Events, Google Maps, or SF Grazes items, and Steve Messner often posts similar interactive maps for the Midwestern U.S.A. here. ___________________________________ Grazing occultations in Europe to mag. 5.5 Table Map, Jan.-June Map, July-Dec. Path data ___________________________________ Grazing occultations in eastern Australia to mag. 5.5 Table Map Path data ___________________________________ Grazing occultations in New Zealand to mag. 5.5 Table Map Path data ___________________________________ Grazing occultations during the lunar eclipse of March 3/4 to mag. 9.0 Table Map ___________________________________ Grazing occultations during the lunar eclipse of August 28 to mag. 9.0 Table World Map Eastern Hemisphere Map (Australia, e. Asia, w. Pacific) Western Hemisphere Map (Americas, e. Pacific, Hawaii) ___________________________________ Dr. Eberhard Riedel IOTA-ES Public Relations Mobile +49 179 1253558 e-mail: E_Riedel@msn.com _____________________________________ Page set up by David Dunham Phones home 301-474-4722; office 240-228-5609; car 301-526-5590 emails dunham@starpower.net or office david.dunham@jhuapl.edu