A Year of Astrotourism Down Under

1. A Year of Astrotourism Down Under 2015 Oct. 16, Las Vegas, Nevada International Occultation Timing Association - Annual Meeting David W. & Joan B. Dunham

2. Previous Trips to Australia and New Zealand • 1980 February, met Dave Herald during trip to observe a total solar eclipse in India • 1986 April, met Steve Hutcheon in Brisbane; he drove us up the Queensland coast to Cairns, where we hired a small plane to take us all to an island in the Torres Strait to try to observe an occultation of a 6.8-mag. star by Halley’s Comet & occ’ns during a total lunar eclipse. A cyclone prevented sightseeing in Cairns, so we spent two days with Dave Herald in Sydney • 2002 December, S. Australia, Joan, William, & I hired an RV in Adelaide & drove with Dave Herald to n. & s. limit sites for the total solar eclipse where it crossed the Stuart Highway • 2003 June, I hired a car in Sydney, drove to Canberra & met Dave Herald there, but flew on to Adelaide, to observe an occultation of beta Vir by 124 Alkeste e. of there, the greatest distance travelled for an asteroidal occ’n. • 2007 July, attended RASNZ & TTSO1 in Auckland, toured North Island few days • 2009 February, I flew to Perth & hired a car to drive to Beacon to meet Dave Herald. We drove on to Kalgoorlie the next day, and observed a lunar graze of Antares with about 10 others north of the city. This was the greatest distance ever traveled for a lunar graze. • Since then, we have wanted to spend much more time to explore Australia in more detail Reduction of the 2009 Feb. 17 Antares graze by Mitsuru Sôma using Kaguya profile data

3. On 2015 April 30 at 19:26 UT, the MESSENGER mission ended when the spacecraft crashed on Mercury. With my knowledge of the maneuver and operations software no longer needed, we departed Maryland on May 1st, staying in the LA area a day before going on to New Zealand

4. Our long visit to Australia and New Zealand • We want to promote occultation science in this region, and learn new techniques from observers here, as we are doing at this symposium • We want to observe several special events during the next several months, depicted on the following slides • Take time to enjoy the sights of the southern skies • During travel for these events, we want to sightsee in many parts of Australia and New Zealand • Develop improved equipment and observing techniques • We look forward to renewing acquaintances and making new friends

5. The RASNZ Annual Meeting and the 9th Trans-Tasman Symposium on Occultations drew us to New Zealand for 11 days before our long stay in Australia

6. New Zealand May 4 - 15 x 

8. 9th Trans-Tasman Symposium on Occultations Program

9. 1 Ross Dickie 2 Stu Parker 3 Frank Andrews 4 John Talbot 5 Alan Gilmore 6 Murray Forbes 7 Joan Dunham 8 Graeme McKay 9 Steve Russell 10 Steve Kerr 11 Pauline Loader 12 Bill Hanna 13 Brian Loader 14 Dave Herald 15 Darren Corbett 16 Rod Austin 17 John Homes 18 Martin Unwin 19 Bill Allen 20 Pam Kilmartin 21 John Drummond 22 Aline Homes 23 Peter Graham 24 David Dunham 25 George Wingate 26 Gordon Hudson 27 Chris Douglass 9th Trans-Tasman Symposium on Occultations

10. New Zealand Photos David Dunham, David Herald, Bill Hanna, Steve Kerr

11. Wine Tasters (at Blenheim, NZ)

12. Brisbane area, May 15 – 21, 29 – June 5  Sheldon Steve Hutcheon John Broughton

13. Side Trip to Indonesia May 21-28Rank 76 Occultation of Regulusby (1669) Dagmar, 2015 May 24

14. It occurred near our home in Maryland But . . .

15. It occurred near our home in Maryland But the Sun alt. was 71 and star alt. only 2!

17. The best place for this event was Saudi Arabia The university could only support the 6 mighty minis brought by Paul Maley & not the 6 that we had. Near Jeddah, the star altitude was about 67 with Sun altitude about -14

18. Our 3 stations around Bengkulu, s.w. Sumatra  Joan – star not seen • Wira – Faint, but • Occultation recorded  David – star recorded to 6 Sky dark, but altitude just under 5 there; the haze/clouds near the horizon only allowed Wira Hadiputrawan to record the star (very faintly) to that altitude.  show actual locations; 3 telescope symbols show locations that couldn’t be used. We thank Wira, from Lembang Observatory, Bandung Univ., for travelling with us to Bengkulu and central Java, and also Yudhiakto Pramudya and Eko Hadigunawan from Yogyakarta, for making all local arrangements.

19. May 24, occultation of 1.4-mag. Regulus by Dagmar The occultation may have been detected at Wira Hadiputrawan’s station but the star was too faint in the haze to quantify the times. I thank Tony George and Brad Timerson for the ROT-E and Occult event analyses here and for other occultations shown in this presentation. Joan and I ran 8 stations along the Tanaimi Rd., 3 120mm maxi’s, 4 80mm midi’s, & the 10in. Scope.

20. Dagmar Photos Freddy with Joan’s setup and Joan’s Station Location David and Wira at Wira’s site

21. 2 nights later, Julietta occulted  Sagittarii over Java Rank 83 occultation of 2.9-mag. Kaus Media ( Sagittarii) Rank 26

22. The morning after the Dagmar occ’n, we flew to Yogyakarta, where we worked with members of the astronomy club there, to deploy mighty mini’s north from that city to Semarang  Yogyakarta

23. Teaching Julietta Observers in Yogyakarta

24. NORTH Whole Sky Chart Deneb Vega Arcturus M I L K Y W A Y Altair E A S T W E S T Overhead Saturn Spica Antares  “TEAPOT” SAGITTARIUS SCORPIUS Fomalhaut M I L K Y W A Y CENTAURUS   SOUTH

25. Yogyakarta observers were trained & occupied 5 of 6 sites x Skies were clear only at the 2 western, and the northernmost, sites, each with a miss. Although little data were collected, the events sparked interest in occultations in Indonesia

26. Our Julietta site, Setting up with Wira, and view of the skies. The baggy was to protect the telescope from the rain….

27. May 29, 7:31 UT, 6.2-mag. SAO 79580 by Venus, soon after our return to Brisbane from Java. In Brisbane, the disappearance occurred at altitude 27, Sun altitude -7, but some clouds, the twilight and strong glare from Venus defeated our attempt to record the event with an 8-inch SCT borrowed from the Astronomical Association of Queensland at Steve Hutcheon’s home in Sheldon, Queensland, s.e. of Brisbane

28. Brisbane to Cairns, June 5 - 7 Bowen Steve Kerr

29. June 10, 15:03 UT, occultation of 6.1-mag. star by Gratia From Cairns, we hoped to observe this bright occultation. Although it Was the “dry” season, that’s just a relative term in the tropics. There was Actually a drought during the earlier “wet” season, so it rained most of The week we were in Cairns, cloudy across the whole region.

30. At Peter Anderson’s suggestion, I joined the Astronomical Association of Queensland to rent one of their 20cm SCT telescopes during our stay in AU. But the telescope components and their boxes were too large for our rental car with our other telescopes and gear, so we returned the 20cm scope after the May 29th Venus occultation and before we left Brisbane. We knew then that Bill Hanna would be leaving Alice Springs, and would be leaving his 20cm SCT there for our use. June 11, ~19:20 UT, partial/grazing occultation of 5.9-mag. Uranus 3 from northern cusp of the 26% sunlit waning crescent Moon at altitude 64, Sun altitude -25, the night after the Gratia occultation. But again, it rained, and was cloudy across the whole region. Dave Herald had clear skies at Murrumbateman, north of Canberra, and recorded the reappearance of the planet that occurred there. After spending six days in Cairns, visiting the Barrier Reef and other sights in the area, we started our drive to Alice Springs, arriving there a few days after Bill Hanna had left.

31. Cairns to Alice Springs, June 13 - 17 At Camoolweal, a sign says: Welcome to Queensland – Set your watches ahead 1.5hrs & 5 years X  Tennant Creek Camoolweal  Devil’s Marbles  Wycliffe Well (UFO Capital of Australia) Richmond Hunghendon (Plesiosaur)

32. Alice Springs from Mt. Gillen Road to Alice Springs Devil’s Marbles Road Train

33. June 18, 10:47 UT, occultation of 12.4-mag. star by Adeona

34. June 18, 10:47 UT, occultation of 12.4-mag. star by Adeona Joan and I ran 2 stations, about 30 & 50 km s.w. of Alice Springs, while Richard Williamson observed with the 20cm SCT at his observatory on The south side of Alice Springs; the 3 stations had no occultation.

35. Equipment setups at Dunham Adeona observing sites David with 10” suitcase telescope (John Broughton designed and built; he presented this design remotely at the 2011 IOTA meeting) Midi scope on paver stone (John Broughton designed and built mount; for another event, since the Adeona star was too faint for midi’s)

36. June 29, 10:47 UT, occultation of 12.4-mag. star by Adeona Occultation of 12.3-mag. star by Pluto June 29, 16:52 UT Professional astronomers had many stations in NZ & Tasmania, so we decided to try 2 stations In Victoria I considered Tasmania at last minute, but the weather forecaster for Tas. discouraged that. The occ’n was recorded near Hobart.

37. June 29, 16:52 UT, occultation of 12.3-mag. star by Pluto  Euroa X DWD  Merton Clouds were forecast along the sw coast, so we drove to Wodonga near the NSW border. But when we arrived there, clouds were seen in the east & the forecast was for fog, with better conditions at Bendigo, so we drove back west, to Euroa, where we booked a motel. Joan, with maxi, was clouded out. With the 10”, I drove to Merton to escape the clouds, but fog there forced me back north. Not enough time for good obs.

38. June 29, 16:52 UT, occultation of 12.3-mag. star by Pluto The occultation was observed from SOFIA from the predicted central line s.e. of NZ with a good recording of the central flash. Although some were clouded out, several recorded the event from New Zealand & one from Tasmania. D. Herald at Murrumbateman, NSW had the closest miss obs. while we failed at our locations 100 km closer.

39. July 17, 18:44 UT, occultation of 11.9-mag. star by Aline

40. July 17, 18:44 UT, occultation of 11.9-mag. star by Aline Miss Miss Joan and I ran 6 stations along the Tanami Rd., 3 120mm maxi’s, 2 80mm midi’s with integrating cameras, & the 10in. Scope. Two shown recorded no event; batteries failed at the others with temp. about 3 C.

41. Two other events, a graze on June 22nd and the July 31st Bertholda occultation, will be discussed in my next presentation about paver mounts. They were partially successful. August 2 – 14, we returned to USA, but only to Honolulu, Hawaii, to attend the General Assembly of the International Occultation Timing Association, the subject of another presentation. The evening of August 2, after we left Alice Springs, Richard Williamson observed an occultation (positive) by the asteroid Kolga from his observatory, but inadvertently wrote over the recording of that for a subsequent event.

42. July 31, 10:23 UT, occultation of 10.3-mag. star by Bertholda Good 10.0-mag. rank 75 occultation, Aug. 22 16:57 UT

43. Aug. 22, 16:57 UT, occultation of 10.0-mag. star by Hekate ----- Not Used Richard Williamson Joan and I ran 8 stations along the Tanaimi Rd., 3 120mm maxi’s, 4 80mm midi’s, & the 10in. Scope. Finally a complete success! The 3 northern stations had no occultation, as did Richard to the south, but our 5 other stations were positive, resulting in a good profile

44. Aug. 22, 16:57 UT, occultation of 10.0-mag. star by Hekate Joan and I ran 8 stations along the Tanaimi Rd., 3 120mm maxi’s, 4 80mm midi’s, & the 10in. Scope.

45. Hekate site at sunset Scopes ready to travel

46. Alice Springs - Uluru, September 1 - 5 Mt. Gillen   Gosses Bluff  Palm Valley  Kings Canyon Henbury  Meteorite Craters  The Olgas  Mt. Conner

47. Meteorite Craters Palm Valley Crater Panorama and Henbury Crater

48. Uluru (Ayers Rock)

49. Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) and Mount Conner at Sunset

50. Sept. 5, 17:16 UT, occultation of 12.4-mag. star by Artemis