A rare astronomical obscurity of the dwarf planet "Homia" will be observed tomorrow evening in the Arab world
On Monday evening, the skies of most Arab countries will witness a rare astronomical phenomenon, known as the "star occultation" phenomenon, where a dwarf planet called "Haumea" will obscure a star behind it for up to 119 seconds.
Many regions in the Arab world will be able to monitor this event, and there is a wide global scientific cooperation in which several specialized international bodies participate to monitor this event.
According to the International Astronomy Center, the phenomenon could last up to 119 seconds, as part of an international monitoring campaign involving observatories and research institutions from around the world.
Engineer Mohammed Shawkat Odeh, director of the center, said that the hijab will first start in the eastern regions of the Arab world, where it is expected to appear in the Sultanate of Oman and the United Arab Emirates at 20:16 GMT, then in Jordan at 20:17, in Egypt at 20:18, and in Morocco at 20:20.
He explained that countries located on the central path of the phenomenon may witness a latency of between 80 and 88 seconds, which is a relatively long period in such astronomical phenomena.
The dwarf planet Haumia is of particular scientific importance because it has two moons and a ring system, which are rare among objects in the Kuiper Belt at the edge of the solar system. During the phenomenon, Haumya will obscure a faint star with an apparent luminosity of 14.7 magnitude, while the planet itself will remain visible with a faint luminosity of up to 17.3 magnitude, resulting in a significant decrease in brightness of about 2.7 magnitude.
The center pointed out that the phenomenon will be visible from most Arab countries, except Somalia, Djibouti and the Comoros.
To monitor this phenomenon, it is recommended to start filming 15 minutes before the start of the event to 15 minutes after the event, and as for the duration of the exposure, this depends on the scientific goal of the observation, as it may be necessary to take several images per second, while it may also be enough to take one image every second or even continuous images of 5 seconds each, as each method has scientific objectives that can be derived from it.
What is a dwarf planet?
According to the International Astronomical Center, the dwarf planet is a celestial body smaller than the planet and larger than an asteroid, and the number of known dwarf planets in the solar system is five, the most famous of which is Pluto, among which are also Ceres, Eris and Mikmic.
Homia, Mikmic and Pluto are all in the Kuiper Belt, a region behind Neptune, while Ceres is in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, while Eris is located in a region beyond the Kuiper Belt.
The dwarf planet Homia is characterized by having two moons and rings, which makes the timing of this obscuration of great scientific importance, as it requires high accuracy observation.
During Monday evening, as Homia orbits the Sun, it will obscure a faint star from magnitude 14.7, and when the star disappears behind it, only the asteroid that shines from magnitude 17.3 remains, so the magnitude of dimming in this obscurity is 2.7 magnitude. Because of the star's fading, observing this phenomenon requires the use of a telescope with a diameter of at least 8 inches, while a 12-inch telescope is more suitable for better observation.