"Seal Observatory" It documents the phenomenon of a star being obscured by an asteroid for 28 seconds
Abu Dhabi, November 25 / WAM / Yesterday evening, the skies of the UAE witnessed a rare astronomical phenomenon, which was represented by the disappearance of a star for a full 28 seconds, after an asteroid known as (2003 VS2) obscured it as it passed in front of one of the stars of the faint cluster of stars.
The Seal Astronomical Observatory, affiliated with the International Astronomy Center, was able to monitor and document the event with high accuracy, within the framework of global cooperation in which observatories from Europe and the Arab region participated.
Engineer Muhammad Shawkat Odeh, Director of the International Astronomy Center, confirmed that the phenomenon is one of the rare events that can only be monitored if the observatory is located within a very narrow occultation band whose width does not exceed 530 kilometers, and extends from the Pacific Ocean through East and Central Asia to Central Africa. It included several Arab countries that were within this path, including the Emirates, while the center of the path passed only 47 kilometers from the Seal Observatory in Abu Dhabi, which provided the observatory with an ideal opportunity to accurately document the phenomenon.
He explained that the asteroid that caused the occultation had a diameter of 523 kilometers, and at the moment of crossing it was at a distance of 5.5 billion kilometers from Earth in an orbit located behind the planet Neptune. He pointed out that its very faint brightness (19.7 magnitude) made it invisible at the time of the event, while the occulting star was located 4,430 light-years away, which highlights the accuracy of the astronomical calculations on which the observation was based.
According to precise astronomical calculations, the occultation began at 11:33:34 pm UAE time, and lasted for 28 seconds, which was documented by monitoring devices exactly as expected. In the monitoring process, the observatory used a main telescope with a diameter of 14 inches that was directed towards the star well before the phenomenon began.
This occultation was characterized by an unusual phenomenon; Instead of the star disappearing instantaneously, as usually happens due to the nature of point stars, the star disappeared gradually over the course of about one second, an important astronomical indication that it had an apparent diameter that could be measured.
The International Astronomy Center indicated that astronomical occultations are among the most important scientific tools that led to the discovery of the rings of the planets Uranus and Neptune, determining the diameters of stars, measuring the shapes of asteroids, refining the orbits of celestial bodies, and leading to the discovery of new moons around some asteroids.
The Center continues to send its results to international scientific bodies, including the Organization for Timing Astronomical Occultations in the United States.
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