Occultation by Jupiter

Abstract

AN occultation of β Scorpii (2.^m9) by Jupiter has been predicted to occur on May 13, 1971, at about 1800–2000 UT¹. Although not visible from North or South America or western Europe, the occultation should be visible from the rest of the inhabited world. The results of two previous occultations by outer planets (σ Arietis by Jupiter in 1952² and BD–17° 4388 by Neptune in 1968^3–6) have been rather disappointing in that scale heights deduced from them have uncertainties of a factor of 2 or more. There is also considerable uncertainty in the temperatures, so the derived mean molecular weights have not been very useful. In addition there is probably a bias in the procedure of fitting theoretical “light-curves” to the observed data introduced by “spikes” in the light curves which have been attributed to inhomogeneities in the subject atmospheres.