Occultations of stars by major and minor planets in 2018 ======================================================== The files in this directory give all information about occultations of stars by major and minor planets in 2018. 1. Overview of the files ------------------------ There are 2 types of files : - Files with extension .pdf are Adobe Acrobat PDF files - Files with extension .txt are text files 1.1. Files Occ18Rnn.pdf, with nn = 00..08 These files give an overview of all events in region nn (16 events per page). The details for each event are contained in the file whose name is given in the top right corner (file names A/B/P18_mmnnn.pdf). The regions are : Region 01 = North and Central America Region 02 = South America Region 03 = Europe, North Africa and Middle East Region 04 = South Africa Region 05 = Russia Region 06 = Pakistan, India and South-East Asia Region 07 = Japan, China and Taiwan Region 08 = Australia and New Zealand 1.2. Files A18_mmnnn.pdf, B18_mmnnn.pdf and P18_mmnnn.pdf (in subdirectory PDF) Each of these files gives a two-page overview of all information regarding one particular occultation: general information about the minor planet and the star, finder star chart, detailed star chart and location of the predicted shadow track on the Earth. The meaning of the file names is as follows (see also 1.4) A18 = minor-planet occultation with first merged catalogue B18 = minor-planet occultation with second merged catalogue P18 = occultation by a major planet mm = number of the month nnn = sequential number within the month More details in file Occul18.pdf (see 1.4.) 1.3. File Occ18Reg.txt This world summary list contains a list of all occultations, one line per event and per region. It allows the user to create subsets or sort the list as desired (per region, per minor planet, per date ...). The data on each line are : col. format 1- 2 I2 = region number 4- 7 I4 = year 9-10 I2.2 = month 12-13 I2.2 = day 15-16 I2 = hours 18-21 F4.1 = minutes 23-30 I8 = minor-planet number (blank for major planets and unnumbered minor planets) 32-47 A16 = planet name or provisional designation 48-53 F6.2 = apparent diameter (in seconds of arc) 54-60 F7.1 = maximum duration in seconds 62-77 A16 = star designation 79-83 F5.2 = visual magnitude of the star 84-87 F4.1 = magnitude drop 89-97 A9 = name of PostScript of PDF file of the event 1.4. File Occul18.pdf This 4-page file gives details of the calculation of the occultations and information on the graphs described in 1.2. 2. Suggested use ---------------- The suggested way of using the data is as follows : - download the file OccR18nn.pdf corresponding to your region and print it or view it on screen. - select the events you wish to observe and note down their file names - download the corresponding files A/B/P18_mmnnn.pdf. 3. Mailing lists & Web sites ---------------------------- European observers are strongly encouraged to subscribe to the PlanOccult mailing lists for last-minute updates and observation reports: http://vps.vvs.be/mailman/listinfo/planoccult For more up-to-date information on predictions, finder charts and occultation news, consult the IOTA site for asteroidal occultations: http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/asteroids/astrndx.htm Edwin Goffin Aartselaarstraat 14 B-2660 Hoboken Belgium E-mail: e_goffin at yahoo dot com