2025 Asteroidal Occultations of Selected Categories - Updated 2025 January 4
This is posted to make available now most of the special 2025 Occult input datasets before the different pages can be updated from 2024
The errors in many of the Occult input files posted yesterday are now corrected
These occultations are described and illustrated (in maps and tables) in this 2025 predictions presentation that is modified from one given at the 2024 IOTA meeting. The .pdf file for bright main belt occultations for North America in 2025 will be added in a future update, but the map and table of the best ones (from the RASC Handbook) are on slides 3 and 4 of the 2025 predictions presentation linked to above. Links to the .xml input files used by the Occult program, for main-belt and other categories of occultations (whose best events are also mapped and tabulated in the 2025 predictions presentation) are given below. _ _ _ _ _ OCCULT INPUT FILES FOR 2025: Use of these files to generate your own predictions is described here. When you open these files with your Web browser, you should get a display that looks like this. The larger files may take a couple of minutes to show this appearance, showing a messed-up display before then. Once the proper view appears, right-click anywhere on the display, then "Save as" to a directory on your computer; the best directory is the \Asteroid\ subdirectory in your Occult\ directory. 16 North American brighter main belt events, in the Handbook and the 2025 presentatons file. thousands of North American main belt events to mag. 12.0 filtered to remove events with errors greater than 0.4 path widths Worldwide main belt events from Steve Preston to mag. 10.5 filtered to remove events with errors greater than 0.4 path widths - for them, prediction maps and data are available at https://www.asteroidoccultation.com/. Occultations by major planets and by their main satellites, and those combined with the above main belt files Worldwide major planet/moon events North American subset of the above The above include cases with high RUWE and a few (mainly valuable irregular moons events) with relatively large path errors. Combined files (also posted on Robinson's site) Worldwide main belt events to mag. 10.5, and major planet/moon events North American main belt events to mag. 12.0, and major planet/moon events Occult Watcher, described in the 2024 .pdf document, is the best way to find out about updated upcoming events near your location. But the link there is not the best one; you should learn about and obtain the software at this link. __________________________ INPUT FILES FOR OTHER CATEGORIES OF OCCULTATIONS Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs to mag. 13.0, since these are brief events needing mobile equipment) Currently, worldwide files for most of these events can only be found on Preston's Web site at https://www.asteroidoccultation.com/. Also, the selection for North America only considers the 20 most hazardous NEAs and a few others as described on the 2024 NEA occultations page (link given near the end, with other 2024 links) North American 2025 selected NEA events, including Phaethon For the special NEA objects below, the files are for worldwide events: Occultations by Sisyphus and Tantalus 2005 UD has an elongated orbit with a small perihelion distance, requiring separate calculations for before and after perihelion; it is a probable flyby target of a Japanese asteroid mission: most 2025 occultations by 2005 UD late 2025 occultations by 2005 UD The rest of the files below have worldwide coverage to mag. 16: 2025 special Main Belt occultations The above does not include two occultation binaries discovered after the file was generated in August 2024 to meet RASC's deadline; they will be computed with a separate file when the 2025 special main belt page is posted in about a week. Also, J-F Gout has posted an input file for many more special objects with links and description in his message. 2025 Jupiter Trojan occultations 2025 selected distant object occultations __________________________ Pages for maps and predictions of occultations by special classes of asteroids can be reached by clicking on the links below; these are the last 2024 versions whose descriptions (of the selected objects) are mostly valid also for 2025; they will be updated in the coming days to describe 2025 events. For now, ignore the 2024 maps and tables in them, using instead the 2025 maps and tables in the presentation with link in the first paragraph of this Web site: Major Planets and their satellites Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) Selected Special Main-Belt Asteroids Trojan Asteroids (Lucy targets are emphasized) Distant objects (Comet SW1, and selected Centaurs and TNOs) ______ David and Joan Dunham, 2025 January 3; updated January 4 e-mail: dunham@starpower.net cell phone: 301-526-5590