| ||||
| ||||
![]() Title:Astronomical Education Through Observations of Asteroid Occultations Authors:Fumi Yoshida, Tsutomu Hayamizu, Hayato Watanabe, Hiroshi Akitaya, Kazuhisa Miyashita, Hirotomo Noda, Mitsuru Sôma, Chilong Lin, Ye Yuan, Wai-Chun Yue, Toshihiro Horaguchi, Kenta Kono, Hisashi Kasebe, Hiroshi Kishimoto, Hidehito Yamamura and David Dunham Conference:APRIM2026 Tags:Asteroids, Astronomy Education, Occultation observations and Public Outreach Abstract: Occultation observations, in which the Moon or asteroids hide background stars, have long been a popular activity among amateur astronomers. Recently, however, these observations have also begun to attract the attention of researchers. This is due to the significantly improved accuracy of asteroid occultation predictions for two reasons: First, the Gaia satellite's precise positional measurements of faint stars down to magnitude 16. Second, all-sky surveys with large telescopes increased the orbital accuracy of asteroids. Observing asteroid occultations can directly measure an asteroid's precise shape and size without assumptions or modeling. Occultation observations have contributed significantly to planetary flyby missions such as NASA's New Horizons, Lucy, and JAXA's DESTINY+. Consequently, a global network of researchers and amateur astronomers has formed to observe asteroid occultations. The International Occultation Timing Association-East Asia (IOTA/EA) is part of this network. Because the phenomenon of a star vanishing in front of people's eyes is fascinating, asteroid occultations are ideal targets for public observatories, high school and university stargazing events, and astronomy club meetings. Since the asteroid's occultation path extends into neighboring countries, cross-border collaborative observations are possible. By encouraging everyone to observe, measure, and learn these principles, we hope to promote astronomy education that transcends borders and generations. I'd like to have a poster presentation. Astronomical Education Through Observations of Asteroid Occultations ![]() Astronomical Education Through Observations of Asteroid Occultations | ||||
| Copyright © 2002 – 2026 EasyChair |
