Paper detail

Data analysis of 2005 Regulus occultation and simulation of the 2014 occultation

On March 20, 2014 at 6:06 UT (2:06 New York time) Regulus, the 1.3 magnitude brighter star of Leo constellation, is going to be occulted by the asteroid 163 Erigone. The unusual event, visible to the naked eye over NYC, can allow to measure the shape of the asteroid, with reaching a space resolution below the diffraction limit of the eye, and of all instruments not based on interferometry. Ultimately the aperture of the instrument is related to the amount of scintillation affecting the light curve of the occultation, limitating the accuracy of video recorded data. The asteroid profile scans the surface of the star at a velocity of 6 mas/s; the diameter of the star is about 1.3 mas and the detection of the stellar limb darkening signature is discussed, taking into consideration also the Fresnel fringes. New data reduction with R-OTE software of the 2005 Regulus occultation and simulations of the 2014 occultation with Fren_difl software are presented.