Asteroid+Occultation

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 * Steve's Asteroid Update HELP / FAQ Page**

What is asteroid occultation? Occultation is a generic astronomical term for a situation where one body "covers" or "passes in front of" another body.

What is an asteroid occultation prediction? An asteroid occultation prediction predicts the path of the asteroid's shadow on the earth.

__How do I observe an asteroid occultation?__ To observe an asteroid occultation you find the star which will be occulted and monitor the star during the predicted time of an occultation for your location.

__Which asteroid occultations should I try to observe?__ Since these maps are just predictions there is a chance that you could see any event where the star is visible from your location at the time of the event.

__What is the information listed in the Event Summary?__ How do I read the maps ? What do the red and blue lines mean on the more detailed road maps? What is the field of view of the star chart included on the Occult plots?

__What is path uncertainty?__ Unless labeled otherwise, uncertainty is an estimate of 1-sigma for the error in the predicted path (actual path vs predicted path).

__What if there is no update for an event in my area?__ There are very few sources of highly accurate astrometric data.

__How do I generate my own path plots?__ Although the updates usually include plots of the asteroid's shadow path on the earth and include the latitude and longitude for several points along the center of the path, you may wish to generate your own, more detailed, path plots.