Open Invitation to EAE Summer Star Parties-Mt Parnon, GREECE

Vagelis,

I am totally open to what ever you guys want to do. Heading straight to the site sounds good, though plan A - dinner and a beer sounds good too. So I will leave all decisions up to my hosts.

John,
The P-Day is coming! One week away
Scedule: as it is.
The earlier we can go to Parnon in June is Friday morning, 6th June, as it is stated in my first post "June 6-8, or July 3-7 or August 28-31" www.irishastronomy.org/boards/viewtopic.php?t=8370&start=0
There we will stay for 3 observing nights: Fri, Sat & Sun.
We will return to Athens on Monday 9th June.
So be prepared for dinner & beer for Thursday evening!
.....................................................................................
On Friday midnight we will attempt to observe & record an occultation by asteroid Astraia from Parnon Mt. Our observing site is just north of the yellow dot in Greece.
This is a great event, 97% probability in Athens, but only 16% in Parnon observing site. We will be somewhat out of the predicted occultation path, but we will try anyway. Maybe it will be visible, even though it's duration might be quite smaller.
(A lot of observers are going to try it in Greece, Austria, Germany, Czech Rep, Denmark, etc)
In case you are interested, you can do a little homework and learn how to locate the target star (to be occulted by Astraia): TYC 291-146 in Virgo.
It's very easy, can be located in any finderscope, 8.9 mag, orange coloured, ~1.6 deg south of Delta Virginis.



AAVSO mirror image with 7 deg and 1 deg FOV circles: www.astrovox.gr/forum/download.php?id=6169
Steve Preston info: www.asteroidoccultations.com/2008_06/0606_5_12820.htm

The P-Day is coming! One week away
Scedule: as it is.
The earlier we can go to Parnon in June is Friday morning, 6th June, as it is stated in my first post "June 6-8, or July 3-7 or August 28-31" www.irishastronomy.org/boards/viewtopic.php?t=8370&start=0
There we will stay for 3 observing nights: Fri, Sat & Sun.
We will return to Athens on Monday 9th June.
So be prepared for dinner & beer for Thursday evening!

I am really looking forward to this.
I hope the asteroid co-operates (16%) sounds slim, but definitely worth a look. Sometimes the best data comes from the edges of the track.

Sometimes the best data comes from the edges of the track.

Indeed!!! That's how I observed my first occultation. I was out of the main track!

And for those of you that will come to Parnon in July,
we will have very good chances to observe an occultation event by asteroid Eichsfeldia,
in the early hours of July 6: www.asteroidoccultations.com/2008_07/0706_442_12914.htm

Google Earth Path: farm4.static.flickr.com/3079/2533993146_ce9d1ed8d9_o.jpg

Lads,
does anyone have a map of Greece where Mt Parnon is pinpointed?

Lads,
does anyone have a map of Greece where Mt Parnon is pinpointed?

Dave,

A little to the left and then down ... from Athens. :mrgreen:

It is about 300 km southwest of Athens and due east of Sparta ... it is truly an impressive sight at night. The Milky Way is one huge cloud!