IOTA/ES - Call for Observations

International Occultation Timing Association / European Section e.V.

Past Event Special Event

Observations of the Occultation of Betelgeuse by (319) Leona

Observation Reports and Videos:

This is a brief summary of observations and does not claim to be complete. Reports of clouded out or technical failure are not included in this list. Chords according to Occult Watcher Cloud or the information of the observer. Last update: 2023 Dec 17, 20:11 UT.

Due to diffent versions to count the chords there were some observations misplaced in the path. That’s now corrected.

Please note: Some of the reported durations should be under review. The analyses are demanding due to the gradual light drop during the occultation. Be aware that this list presents preliminary results.

 

Centre line:

Alfonso Noschese (Astrocampania, IOTA/ES) has recorded perfect light curves. He reports: Many of the observers in Calabria, from the Ionic side, had a positive result, some positive also from the Tyrrhenian side, even though the weather was worse. I share very preliminary light curves with my setup, B, V and H alpha filters.

He reports a duration of 11.6 seconds.

The light curve in H-alpha is on the top of this blog.

V filter:

B filter:

 

 

Another light curve from the centre line. This time recorded by Enrique Arce. He reports a duration of 11.5 seconds.

 

The following observations are sorted by chords:

A path shift to the north?

George Michail (-86.7 km), Johan Warell (-62,0 km), AJ Robles (-51,7 km), and Jesus Delgado (-34.3 km) reported negative observations.

 

Chord -33.5 km:

An observation by Astrocampania reports a 10 seconds occultation. (Source: Occult Watcher Cloud)

 

Chord -28.5 km:

Giuseppe Bianco and Mendicelli report on Occult Watcher Cloud observations with a duration of 10 seconds.

 

Chord -27.3 km:

Jr Arques reports a duration of 5 seocnds on Occult Watcher Cloud.

 

Chord -23.7 km:

ElGran reports 12 seconds on Occulot Watcher Cloud.

 

Chord -22.6 km:

The”Corfu Team” (B. Metallinos, B. Dionysopoulos & A. Christou) reports a 3.5 seconds occultation from the southern edge of the path.

 

Chord -12.4 km:

JAR SP reports on Occut Watcher Cloud a duration of 7.9 seconds.

 

Chord -9,1 km:

I. Auvray observed a duration of 10 seconds.

 

Chord -7.3 km:

Paolo Fini observed a duration of 11 seconds.

 

Chord -5.7 km:

Andreas Schweizer (SOTAS, IOTA/ES) has made two recordings. He reports on Occult Watcher Cloud a duration of 10 seconds.

First light curve, 10fps through 55mm Nikon lens, no filter:

…and a quick overview of 50fps in h-alpha:

From the same chord as Andreas Schweizer we got a report of a duration of 12 seconds from Jean-Francois Pittet on Occult Watcher Cloud. He provided the following light curves on Planoccult:

 

Chord -5.6 km:

Stefan Meister (SOTAS, IOTA/ES) observed with a Borg Apo refractor with 125mm aperture on a ZWO AM5 mount, which piggybacked another finder telescope, namely a Baader 60mm VARIO Finder with 250mm focal length and a makeshift mounted 50mm Nikon lens. All three instruments had a DVTI cam with integrated GPS time inserter connected and were operated via three different laptops. Photometric R, I and V filters from the Baader Bessel series were used (in this order for the descending aperture of the instruments). Here is a light curve (photometric R Filter):

Chord -3.5 km:

Andreas Dill (IOTA/ES, VVS) on PLANOCCULT: Near west of Alicante a significant magnitude drop, albeit between cirrus. He reported about his video: I recorded a live video, using a Canon 5D MkIV, 1.8/50, at ISO 12800. Unfortunately, haze and cirrus clouds interfered with the observation. You see here the central part of this video. It shows the entire constellation of Orion during the occultation. Betelgeuse is the slightly reddish star at the top left. The annoying haze and cirrus, colored reddish by the regional street lighting, are also clearly visible. The occultation can be seen in this video between about 00:35 and 00:45, the minimum is around 00:41. Compare Betelgeuse with the star to its right (Bellatrix). At the maximum of the occultation Betelgeuse is clearly fainter than Bellatrix.

Chord -3.2 km:

Observation by Alex Pratt (IOTA/ES, BAA) reports a 7 seconds occultation.

 

Chord -3.1 km:

Report from Michael O’Connell (IOTA/ES), close to Alex Pratt (IOTA/ES, BAA) south of Alicante: Skies consisted of variable levels of haze, which made the observation more challenging (and head-wrecking) that I would have liked. The dimming was not sudden like a typical occultation, but rather quite gradual which appeared to take approx 2-3 seconds. The star appeared to dim by approx 1 to 2 magnitudes – quite noticeable. The rise was more difficult to detect visually due to the haze. I was expecting it to remain at its faintest magnitude for a period of time, and was surprised to see it brightening almost immediately after reaching minimum magnitude.

Screenshot of a lightcurve taken with my Watec 910 HX/RC and 40mm f/4.5 apo with Bessel V filter:

 

 

Chord -2.9 km:

F. Casarramona reports a 13 seconds occultation of Occult Watcher Cloud.

 

Chord -1.8 km:

Paco Bellido has made a video recording. The occultation has been shorter and less intense than expected. He reports 11 seconds duration.

Chord -1.3 km:

Report by Esteban Donate of a 6 seconds occultation (Occult Watcher Cloud).

From the same chord Xema Onchis reports a duration of 11 seconds (Occult Watcher Cloud).

 

Chord -1.0 km:

R. Casas reports a positive observation (duration at Occult Watcher Cloud incorrect).

 

Chord -0.6 km:

Jiří Kubánek (IOTA/ES) reports a 9 s occultation, recorded close to the centre line in Spain.

 

Chord -0.4 km:

Recording of a live stream by Mateusz Kalisz, Marcin Wierzbicki and Wojciech Burzyński (IOTA/ES, PTMA). See the whole constellation Orion and the dimming of the star. Watch from 01:14:20. Duration reported: 11.5 seconds.

Chord -0.2 km:

EGN reports a duration of 6 seconds (source Occult Watcher Cloud).

 

Chord 0.1 km:

Mike Skrutskie observed a duration of 11 seconds. Here is his light curve:

From the same chord Peter Lindner reports a 7 seconds occultation (source: Occult Watcher Cloud).

 

José Prieto reports from chord 0.1 km: The images were taken with a 70 mm tube + focal reducer with a focal length of 315 mm. Shots of 50 ms calibrated with Flats and Darks. QHY 533 M camera, V Johnson filter. Timing with NTP with Meinberg.

 

 

Chord 0.4 km:

Oscar Canales Moreno has observed an 8 second occultation.

 

Chord 1.1 km:

Claudio Costa (IOTA/ES) reports a duration of 10 seconds. Here is his light curve:

 

Chord 2.7 km:

Anna Marciniak (IOTA/ES) reports a duration of 9 seconds.

 

Chord 6.3 km:

Antoni Selva (IOTA/ES) et al. report from near Alicante, Spain: Observation made by Josep Masalles ,Rafael Quiles and myself. Betelgeuse nearly disappeared totally at naked eye for a moment. Duration 10 sec. Light curve recorded by the team:

 

Chord 9.2 km:

Wim Nobel observed a 5 seconds occultation (Occult Watcher Cloud).

 

Chord 15.3 km:

J. Prat and Pedro Martorell observed a duration of 11 seconds on this chord.

 

Chord 19.1 km:

Tommaso Massimo Stella reports 10 seconds on Occult Watcher Cloud.

 

Chord 21 km:

Tim Haymes (IOTA/ES, BAA) reports a duration of 9 seconds on Occult Watcher Cloud.

Update Dec 14: Tim Haymes reports: Mobile in Portugal observing 21 Km North of the mid-line. I was lucky to record about 9 sec fade from start to finish and 5.2s at the 50% level. The fade of >2 mag is almost symmetrical about the mid line. Visually, the bright red star was almost snuffed out by Leona, just a fainter red dot remained. We were lucky when a clearance appeared in the cloud cover, which was dense in places. Equipment: QHY174mGPS, Bessel R filter, exposure 0.04s, gain 200, 135mm lens, Polarie tracker.

Chord 38.5 km:

Pascal André, Sébastien Serpaud and Patrick Martinez observed with four setups (one failed). They reported a very disturbing sky with numerous cloudy sequences. This is one of their light curves measured with a DVTI+CAM (GPS)- 50ms – 58mm F/D 2 Helios lens – Filter Red 25:

 

Chord 39.8 km:

Jan Maarten Winkel observed an occultation with a duration of 7 seconds.

 

Chord 49 km:

Thierry Midavaine et al. (Club Eclipse, IOTA/ES) report: Hello from chord 13 north west from alicante. Betelgeuse signal modulated by high altitude clouds. It will be difficult to process…

From Ibiza: Benoît Felix with a 200mm telescope. The light curve was extracted with support by Arnaud Leroy:

 

 

Chords unkown:

Marek Zawilski (IOTA/ES) presents an updated light curve obtained at Sibari, Calabria, Italy.

 

Sebastian Voltmer’s Video of the constellation Orion during the occultation:

…and his recorded spectra:

Antonio Piras reports a faint dimming, recorded in Italy.

This video seems to be from the same source (watch at 34:40):

Jörg Schoppmeyer’s recording close to the centre line:

Thierry Legault, recording made close to Alicante:

Recording from Calar Alto, Spain, by Rene Duffart:

Fabrizio Melandri from Italy has made a drift scan observation. The dimming of Betelgeuse is clearly visible.

 

A video recorded near Cieza, Murcia, Spain:

 

Before the occultation:

Manos Kardasis from Greece was outside of the predicted path but he recorded some RVB data of both the star and asteroid ~4 h before the phenomenon.

https://www.astrovox.gr/gallery/image/23702-alphaori-319-leona/?context=new