Abstract
PHOTOELECTRIC observations of the occultation of the fifth magnitude star β Scorpii C by the satellite Io (Jupiter I) on May 14, 1971, were made in Florida, Jamaica and the Virgin Islands. Some visual observations were also made. This was the first occasion on which accurate observations of such a rare event have been obtained, although several visual observations of the occultation of a star by Ganymede (Jupiter III) were made in 1911. The predictions1 were only issued a few weeks before the event, and the track of the occultation was then very uncertain owing primarily to the uncertainty in the declination of Jupiter. It has been estimated that Io will occult a star as bright as β Scorpii C only once per millenium on average.
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References
Taylor, G. E., J. Brit. Astron. Assoc., 81, 303 (1971).
de Sitter, W., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 91, 706 (1931).
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TAYLOR, G., O'LEARY, B., VAN FLANDERN, T. et al. Occultation of Beta Scorpii C by Io on May 14, 1971. Nature 234, 405–406 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/234405a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/234405a0
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