On December 12, 2023, an interesting astronomical phenomenon will take place. An asteroid will occult a star of the first magnitude. The red star Betelgeuse from the Orion constellation will be covered by the asteroid 319 Leona. Asteroid occultations of faint stars are common, but occultation of such a bright star is an extremely rare phenomenon.
Leona is a typical representative of the asteroid belt located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Its diameter is about 50 kilometers. Leona does not pose a danger to the Earth, as it has no approaches to planets.
Occultation of a star by an asteroid gives astronomers the opportunity to get very valuable information. It allows to accurately estimate the size and shape of the asteroid. And it provides one of the few opportunities to measure the angular size of the visible disk of a star. In the case of Betelgeuse, the occultation will clarify not only the size, but also the shape of the star. It is known that the shape of the Betelgeuse surface is very complex and differs from the spherical one.
The occultation of Betelgeuse by the asteroid Leona will take place on December 12, 2023, between 01:09 and 01:25 UTC and will last only a few seconds. To the naked eye, the occultation will look like the complete disappearance of Betelgeuse for a few seconds. Unfortunately, the visual disappearance of Betelgeuse can only be observed in a narrow band on the Earth surface. Occultation will be available for observation in Turkmenistan (01:09), northwestern Iran (01:10), Turkey (01:11), Greece (01:12), Sicily (01:14), near Gibraltar (01:16) and the Bahamas (01:25). The time is indicated UTC.
Modeling and rendering were performed by author of this publication using own software. The calculations took into account the mutual influence of the Sun, all the planets of the Solar System, the Moon and the asteroid on each other. Relativistic effects were also taken into account in the calculation.
This work contains Music Track Stopping By the Inn that is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Author: Twin Musicom. The track was looped, and the melody was faded out at the end.
