Hidalgo is an extremely interesting object. This is a body on typically cometary orbit (a=5.7, e=0.66, i=42.5) which shows no cometary activity (so far). In November 2004 Hidalgo will approach the Earth to 1.13 AU reaching 13.5 magnitude. This apparition is among the best ones since its discovery in 1920.
Size of this object can be measured during stellar occultations. Listed below are selected occultations of Hipparcos and Tycho2 stars by (944) Hidalgo until the end of 2004. Only those events longer than 1 second are listed which will occur over the populated areas. Durations are given for the supposed diameter of 23 km.
Date U.T. Dur. Star Mag Elon Star
Year Mon dd hh:mm-hh:mm s mag drop o No.
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2004 Oct 02 07:52-08:02 1.2 12.4 1.7 145 TYC 1770-00578-1
2004 Oct 15 02:37-02:47 1.1 10.7 2.9 155 TYC 2309-00474-1
2004 Nov 02 09:15-09:19 1.2 10.6 2.9 154 TYC 2304-00229-1
2004 Nov 13 03:20-03:25 1.3 9.1 4.4 144 TYC 2803-01824-1
2004 Nov 16 12:22-12:32 1.4 11.9 1.9 141 TYC 2802-01755-1
2004 Nov 20 01:23-01:28 1.6 9.5 4.1 137 TYC 2805-00051-1
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Click on time of event for preliminary path chart (25 kB gif)
Year Mon dd Region of visibility ---------------------------------------------------------------- 2004 Oct 02 Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba, USA, Canada, Alaska 2004 Oct 15 South Africa, Canary Isl, Azores, Northern Canada 2004 Nov 02 Aleut Islands, Kamchatka 2004 Nov 13 Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Russia 2004 Nov 16 12:27 UT Japan, 12:28 - Korea, 12:29-12:32 - China 2004 Nov 20 S.Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru ----------------------------------------------------------------