Overview
Welcome to the LIneA Occultation Prediction Database!
This database was developed to universalize access in an easy and interactive way to predictions of stellar occultations by small bodies of the Solar System. To do this, we constantly collect information about the orbits of these small bodies and, in combination with the Gaia stellar catalog and our software stack, compute updated predictions of stellar occultations using an HPC system. Our aim is to reduce the computational burden for amateur and professional astronomers by providing millions of stellar occultation predictions that can be easily accessed and to walk the preparation path for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) era.
INITIAL RELEASE ADVISORY
Please be aware that this is our inaugural release, and we are currently refining our database access performance. We are eager to receive your feedback regarding any challenges or problems encountered, as it will help us improve the overall user experience.
A quick note on Stellar Occultations
Stellar occultations occur when a moving object, such as an asteroid, passes in front of a star in the observer’s line of sight, temporarily blocking its light from view. These events can also be thought of from a different perspective, such as the object's cast shadow (with the source of light being the star) moving across the Earth's surface. People within the shadow's path with a telescope and the right conditions can register the occultation event.
From an observer's point of view, stars are constantly obscured by bodies of the Solar System since they form, in simple terms, the background plane of the sky we observe every night. Therefore, these events are a goldmine for studying many aspects of our Solar System — especially the size, shape, and surroundings of small bodies. This is possible due to one of the most outstanding features of the occultation technique: the translation of high temporal resolution into high angular resolution. In other words, the higher the cadence we image an event, the more refined information we can get on the object's characteristics and neighborhood, such as elevations, depressions, rings, etc.
Now that we have a better understanding of these events and their usefulness, it becomes clearer why it is relevant to make accurate predictions, and doing that requires constantly updated knowledge of how the objects move over time as well as detailed star charts. This information is crucial to determine precisely where and when these events occur. By using observations of the objects' paths and combining them with star data, astronomers can identify when and where these stellar occultations are expected to occur. But here, we aim to go a step further and also let you know what events will happen around where you live or any other region of interest.