Asteroid occultation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Occultation . (Discuss) |
An asteroid occultation occurs when an asteroid passes in front of a star (occults a star), temporarily blocking its light (as seen from Earth). From any particular place such events occur almost every night, although most require a telescope to see.
Asteroid occultations are useful for measuring the size and position of asteroids much more precisely than can be done by any other means. A cross-sectional profile of the shape of an asteroid can even be determined if a number of observers at different, nearby, locations observe the occultation.