Asteroidal Occultations: Profiles, 3D-Models, discoveries, and data archiving

Presenter(s): Dave Herald

Affiliation(s): CAS

Session details: Sunday, 2014-04-20 05:30:00, Vienna

Abstract

Multiple chord observations of asteroid occultations can produce profiles of asteroids accurate to the 1-km range. The 3D asteroid models of DAMIT and ISAM (derived from mainly amateur light curve measurements) can be refined using the occultation determined profiles. As a result, two observational disciplines collaborate to produce results which can not be bettered unless the asteroid is visited by spacecraft – an exercise not undertaken lightly or cheaply. Asteroid occultation observations can produce unexpected results, discover hitherto unknown double asteroids, and discover double stars that have separations in the micro-arcsecond range. This talk demonstrates and discusses these in the context of recent observations.

Biography

Dave has a long-term interest in astronomy, was a co-author of the Herald-Bobroff Astroatlas, author of the occultation software OCCULT, and is a recipient of the Berenice and Arthur Page Medal. He attended his first NACAA in 1974.