(198) Ampella connects IOTA-ES and IOTA-ME

June 23 at 23h (UTC) the minor planet Ampella willoccult the star TYC6825-00475. The prediction shows the shadow path calculated by Steve Preston crossing Germany… and Iran. (See figure A) The time difference between both observation sites will be only some minutes.
(198) Ampella connects IOTA-ES and IOTA-ME
This will be a chance to an intensifiedcooperation.
A detail of the shadow path running over Iran shows figure B. The (Green) center line crosses Qazvin (Iran) - about 140 km north-west of Teheran. So there might be in this region some observers to join. The both blue lines are the (predicted) limits of the shadow path.
(198) Ampella connects IOTA-ES and IOTA-ME
I think around Qazvin one can find suitable observation places. Figure A and B are from a publication by Derek C Breit, details you may find at: www.poyntsource.com/New/Global.htm under “Ampella”.
The prediction from Steve Preston (now president of IOTA/USA) shows a probability of over 50% near the (green) central line. Please consider: Our models of astronomical events try to calculate what will happen in nature. But our basic data are always with limited accuracy and rounding. So we can help with our observations to extend the knowledge in any situation. You may find further details at www.asteroidoccultation.com
But one has to prepare for this observation very carefully. The occultation will be near the horizon, the time will be about 23:00h UTC, (local time in Iran then 02:30 on June 24 !!). And because brightness of star and minor planet are not very different, the drop of light during the occultation will be only 0.5 Mag.
To observe this “visibly” is nearly impossible. The best way to get a reliable measurement will be a telescope more than 20 cm and a video camera that can display a star with 11 Mag. You should be sure that your system is powerful to get this. In the meantime you should train to find the star just north of Scorpius.
This short introduction has two intentions:
FIRST: to inform you about this occultation
SECOND: To find participants who are willing to get in contact to me – by e-mail and by mobile phone. I would like to get in contact to you (in English) via mobile phone during the time of observation. At your region the occultation will be about 4 minutes earlier. Via phone you explain what you are seeing and I will explain some times later what I am seeing. That is my idea of a direct collaboration.
Last but not least: we need a clear sky to observe all this, if the weather in my region will be cloudy there will be other observer at distant places to support the collaboration under a clear sky (I hope that).
All our data will be collected by Eric Frappa, France. For that it is necessary to get the coordinates of your observation place, the time of the event correlated as good as possible to UTC and some information of your equipment. But that should be declared when we interchange e-mails.
Try hard to join this observation – but in any case there will be another chance.

Dr. Eberhard Bredner Ginsterweg 14 59229 Ahlen-Dolberg; GERMANY