NOTICE

Over the past 20 years, I have generated and posted bright star occultations. Beginning with the 2017 occultations, only those of 3rd magnitude and brighter will be listed.

In recent discussions, the value of total occultation have come into play. "In this day of LOLA lunar profiles and space-based astrometry (Hipparcos, & now Gaia), there is little scientific value in timing occultations now. Observations of grazes, especially video, provide enough accuracy to "push the envelope" on current knowledge, but the main value is to discover and resolve close double stars that can't be separated directly" - David Dunham (former president of the International Occultation Timing Association). Focus of IOTA has also shifted to asteroidal occultation events, and those predictions can be found at Steve Preston's web site and regional information found at Derek Breit's website.

I encourage those who are interested in observing and reporting these events, to download the Occult software (link given below), and generate predictions for their particular location/site. David Herald, author of the software states that he discovers a new binary star in about every 100 observations or so. The software will give you the opportunity to observe much fainter stars than what is listed, making it possible for you to discover your own binary star systems.

There is also an interesting posting by David Herald (author of the Occult software), regarding observations of occultations.

I appreciate all the comments and help I have been given in maintaining this portion of the website.

Rob Robinson
Webmaster

2018 BRIGHT STAR OCCULTATIONS

All times given in these predictions are in Universal Time. Predictions included both disappearance and reappearance times, although depending on the phase of the moon, one or the other may not be possible to observe at the instant of the event. When Moon % is "+" (waxing), the star will disappear on the dark side (DD), and reappearance is on the bright side (RB); when the Moon % is "-" (waning), the star will reappear on the dark side (RD), and disappearance on the bright side (DB). Observing disappearances and reappearance of stars on the bright side are difficult, and accuracies in timing these events are not reliable.

The world map is a Mercator projection showing the basic circumstances of an occultation:

Where a line represent a feature of the event is located in the polar regions, remember that the Mercator projection gives rise to serious distortions in polar regions.

Predictions and world path maps were generated using Occult v4.3.4.0

You can generate predictions for your own site coordinates, plus many more fainter occultations, by downloading the free Occult software for your own use. After installation, there is a tutorial in the program which will guide you through the fundamental operations.

Note: Cities will be prefixed with their 2 letter country code. Those for the United States will also include the 2 letter state code after the city. For a complete listing of the 2 letter country codes used in the predictions please download this PDF file for reference.

How to convert the predicted time to your site location time using the A/B factor

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DATE STAR NAME MAG PH % ILL GENERAL AREA







JAN 05 ZC1487 α Leo 1.4 RD 85- Alaska, n Canada, Greenland, e Europe
JAN 11 ZC2223 γ Lib 3.9 RD 22- ne Asia
JAN 27 ZC692 α Tau 0.9 DD 77+ nw Canada, Alaska, ne Asia
JAN 27 ZC669 θ1 Tau 3.8 DD 75+ Canada, Alaska, ne Asia
JAN 27 ZC635 γ Tau 3.7 DD 74+ Canada, Alaska, Greenland
JAN 27 ZC648 δ1 Tau 3.8 DD 75+ Easter Island
JAN 27 ZC671 θ2 Tau 3.4 DD 75+ n Alaska, n Canada, n Greenland
FEB 01 ZC1487 α Leo 1.4 RD 98- n Europe, n Asia
FEB 08 ZC2223 γ Lib 3.9 RD 45- Europe, MiddleEast, w Asia
FEB 23 ZC671 θ2 Tau 3.4 DD 53+ n Asia
FEB 23 ZC669 θ1 Tau 3.8 DD 53+ n Asia
FEB 23 ZC692 α Tau 0.9 DD 54+ n Asia, n Europe, Greenland,ne Canada
FEB 23 ZC648 δ1 Tau 3.8 DD 52+ s Australia
FEB 23 ZC635 γ Tau 3.7 DD 51+ nw Canada, Alaska, ne Asia
MAR 1 ZC1487 α Leo 1.4 DD 99+ Greenland, n Canada, Alaska
MAR 07 ZC2223 γ Lib 3.9 RD 68- w USA, w Canada, Alaska
MAR 11 ZC2759 χ2 Sgr 3.5 RD 30- w Canada
MAR 22 ZC692 α Tau 0.9 DD 31+ n Europe, Greenland
MAR 27 ZC1310 δ Cnc 3.9 DD 77+ s South America
MAR 28 ZC1487 α Leo 1.4 DD 89+ Alaska, ne Asia
APR 03 ZC2223 γ Lib 3.9 RD 87- sw Asia, Middle East, e Europe
APR 07 ZC2633 μ Sgr 3.8 RD 62- e Europe, n Middle East, w Asia
APR 07 ZC2759 χ2 Sgr 3.5 RD 54- e Asia
APR 08 ZC2797 π Sgr 2.9 RD 51- Europe, Middle East, w Asia
APR 19 ZC692 α Tau 0.9 DD 12+ n Greenland, n Canada
APR 19 ZC648 δ1 Tau 3.8 DD 11+ Easter Island
APR 23 ZC1310 δ Cnc 3.9 DD 55+ Indonesia
APR 24 ZC1487 α Leo 1.4 DD 71+ n central Asia
MAY 01 ZC2223 γ Lib 3.9 RD 98- USA, w Canada, Mexico, Central America, n So. America
MAY 04 ZC2633 μ Sgr 3.8 RD 82- USA, Canada, Mexico, Central America
MAY 05 ZC2797 π Sgr 2.9 RD 74- w USA, w Mexico, Hawaii
MAY 05 ZC2759 χ2 Sgr 3.5 RD 76- e USA, e Canada, Caribbean
MAY 20 ZC1310 δ Cnc 3.9 DD 32+ s Asia
MAY 28 ZC2223 γ Lib 3.9 DD 99+ e Asia,n Indonesia
MAY 31 ZC2633 μ Sgr 3.8 DD 96- se Asia, Indonesia
JUN 01 ZC2797 π Sgr 2.9 RD 91- s Asia, Indonesia
JUN 01 ZC2779 ο Sgr 3.8 RD 91- ne Asia
JUN 01 ZC2759 χ2 Sgr 3.5 RD 92- Hawaii
JUN 04 ZC3190 δ Cap 2.9 RD 67- nw Asia
JUN 16 ZC1310 δ Cnc 3.9 DD 13+ n South America
JUN 24 ZC2223 γ Lib 3.9 DD 89+ Middle East, ne Africa, sw Asia
JUN 28 ZC2759 χ2 Sgr 3.5 RD 100- w Africa, s Middle East, s Asia, n Indonesia
JUN 28 ZC2779 ο Sgr 3.8 RD 99- Europe
JUN 29 ZC2797 π Sgr 2.9 RD 99- n South America, central Africa
JUL 02 ZC3171 γ Cap 3.7 RD 87- n Europe
Jul 10 ZC692 α Tau 0.9 RD 11- north central USA, Canada
JUL 10 ZC635 γ Tau 3.7 RD 13- nw Europe, Greenland
JUL 25 ZC2633 μ Sgr 3.8 DD 94+ s USA, Mexico, central America, Caribbean, n So. America
JUL 26 ZC2797 π Sgr 2.9 DD 98+ Mexico, central America, Caribbean, n So. America
JUL 26 ZC2759 χ2 Sgr 3.5 DD 97+ Caribbean, n So. America,w Africa
JUL 29 ZC3171 γ Cap 3.7 DD 98+ nw Canada
AUG 06 ZC692 α Tau 0.9 RD 28- nw Asia
AUG 18 ZC2223 γ Lib 3.9 DD 50+ e Asia, Hawaii
AUG 21 ZC2633 μ Sgr 3.8 DD 79+ e Asia, n Indonesia
AUG 22 ZC2759 χ2 Sgr 3.5 DD 85+ sw USA, w Mexico
AUG 22 ZC2797 π Sgr 2.9 DD 86+ Indonesia
AUG 25 ZC3190 δ Cap 2.9 DD 99+ n Middle East, w Asia
SEP 02 ZC648 δ1 Tau 3.8 RD 53- w Australia, s Indonesia
SEP 07 ZC1310 δ Cnc 3.9 RD 9- ne Africa, Middle East, s Europe
SEP 14 ZC2223 γ Lib 3.9 DD 28+ e central Africa, s Middle East
SEP 17 ZC2633 μ Sgr 3.8 DD 57+ central Africa, s Middle East
SEP 18 ZC2759 χ2 Sgr 3.5 DD 65+ Indonesia
SEP 18 ZC2779 ο Sgr 3.8 DD 67+ ne Africa, Middle East, Europe, w Asia
SEP 21 ZC3171 γ Cap 3.7 DD 90+ n Europe
SEP 22 ZC3190 δ Cap 2.9 DD 91+ ne USA, e Canada, s Greenland
SEP 30 ZC648 δ1 Tau 3.8 RD 75- central South America
OCT 04 ZC1310 δ Cnc 3.9 RD 27- w USA, w Canada, n Mexico
OCT 12 ZC2223 γ Lib 3.9 DD 10+ Polynesia
OCT 15 ZC2759 χ2 Sgr 3.5 DD 42+ central South America
OCT 15 ZC2633 μ Sgr 3.8 DD 34+ Polynesia, nw South America
OCT 16 ZC2779 ο Sgr 3.8 DD 43+ USA, Mexico, n Central America
OCT 16 ZC2797 π Sgr 2.9 DD 44+ Polynesia
OCT 19 ZC3171 γ Cap 3.7 DD 72+ w Canada, Alaska, nw USA
OCT 19 ZC3190 δ Cap 2.9 DD 73+ Alaska, ne Asia
OCT 27 ZC648 δ1 Tau 3.8 RD 92- Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, n South America
OCT 28 ZC847 ζ Tau 3.0 RD 82- e Australia, New Zealand
OCT 30 ZC1310 δ Cnc 3.9 RD 49- ne Asia
NOV 11 ZC2633 μ Sgr 3.8 DD 14+ w Australia, w Indonesia
NOV 12 ZC2779 ο Sgr 3.8 DD 21+ se Asia, nw Indonesia
NOV 15 ZC3171 γ Cap 3.7 DD 49+ central Asia
NOV 15 ZC3190 δ Cap 2.9 DD 50+ Middle East, sw Asia
NOV 23 ZC648 δ1 Tau 3.8 RD 100- se Asia, nw Indonesia
NOV 24 ZC847 ζ Tau 3.0 RD 96- s Africa, Madagascar
NOV 25 ZC976 μ Gem 2.9 RD 92- s New Zealand
NOV 27 ZC1310 δ Cnc 3.9 RD 72- n Europe, n Asia
DEC 09 ZC2797 π Sgr 2.9 DD 6+ e central South America
DEC 09 ZC2759 χ2 Sgr 3.5 DD 5+ se Africa, Madagascar
DEC 09 ZC2779 ο Sgr 3.8 DD 6+ w central Africa
DEC 12 ZC3190 δ Cap 2.9 DD 27+ se USA, Mexico, Central America, Caribbean
DEC 21 ZC648 δ1 Cap 3.8 DD 96+ s Central America, Caribbean, n So. America, w central Africa
DEC 25 ZC1310 δ Cnc 3.9 RD 91- Alaska, n Canada, Greenland, w Europe

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