Lunar Grazing Occultation Maps for 2014 - New 2014 April 13
Links to similar maps for 2007 - 2013 are provided
by Eberhard Riedel
Below are links to maps and data for the brighter lunar grazing occultations during 2014; click here for similar information for 2007, here for 2008, here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012 and here for 2013. There is one map of the world showing grazing occultations of stars brighter than mag. 3.0. There are also three maps of Europe, three of eastern Australia, two of Iran [for the benefit of the Middle Eastern Section of the International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA/ME)], and one of New Zealand. These regional maps show favorable grazes of stars of mag. 6.0 and brighter (but that is raised to higher magnitudes near lunar eclipses, 9.1 for the April 15th eclipse and 11.0 for the Oct. 8th eclipse. 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 7.5 mag., are below and have been published in the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada's (RASC's) Observer's Handbook 2014 on pages 170 - 178. In the color maps you only find solid lines now, and the phases of each event are distinguished by color; in the black and white maps, the lines are dotted, dashed, or solid: - nighttime dark limb: black or solid lines - nighttime bright limb: yellow or dotted lines (large dots for very bright objects) - daytime dark- and bright limb: blue or small dots (vertical dashes for very bright objects) 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 Color Map Path data ___________________________________ Grazing occultations in North America to mag. 7.0 Table These detailed maps for North America are all black and white: Map, Jan. 1 - Feb. 15 Map, Feb. 16 - April 5 Map, April 6 - May 31 Map, June 1 - July 31 Map, Aug. 1 - Sept. 20 Map, Sept. 21 - Oct. 13 Map, Oct. 14 - Nov. 20 Map, Nov. 21 - Dec. 31 Path data The maps of these North American grazes, and the tables, but not the path data, will be 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 emphasize the eastern U.S.A. and Canada (but do include some western events, too; check it first). 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. 6.0 Table Color Map, Jan. 1 - March 31 Color Map, April 1 - Sept. 30 Color Map, Oct. 1 - Dec. 31 Path data ___________________________________ Grazing occultations in eastern Australia to mag. 6.0 Table Color Map, Jan. 1 - April 30 Color Map, May 1 - July 31 Color Map, Aug. 1 - Dec. 31 Path data ___________________________________ Grazing occultations in New Zealand to mag. 6.0 Table Color Map Path data ___________________________________ Grazing occultations in Iran to mag. 6.0 Table Color Map, Jan. 1 - July 31 Color Map, Aug. 1 - Dec. 31 Path data ___________________________________ Grazing occultations during the April 15th lunar eclipse to mag. 9.1 Table Color Map Path data ___________________________________ Grazing occultations during the October 8th lunar eclipse to mag. 11.0 Table Color Map Path data ___________________________________ 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 301-220-0415; cell 301-526-5590 emails dunham@starpower.net