The interactive map below shows our current prediction for the occultation by (617) Patroclus-Menoetius on 2024 October 7 UT. The prediction is based on a Gaia eDR3 position for the star, corrected for parallax and proper motion, and the v20240424210407 orbit estimate for Patroclus-Menoetius, which is derived from pm_combocloud2_1b_bary.bsp and pm_combocloud2_1b_mutual.bsp. This ephemeris has a 1-sigma crosstrack uncertainty of 10.0 km and a 1-sigma downtrack uncertainty of 0.1 sec for this event (these are placeholder values).
The geocentric mid-time of the event is 11:12:20.6 UT. The J2000 star position is RA 00:42:38.4 (0.7106561), Dec -14:59:53 (-14.997962), and its magnitude is 11.64. Patroclus and Menoetius are moving at 16.0 km/s with respect to the star and their diameters are estimated to be 113 and 108 km, respectively, so central chords are expected to last 7.0 seconds for Patroclus and 6.7 seconds for Menoetius.
At the time of the occultation, the target star will be 114.7 degrees from the (19% illuminated) Moon. The system magnitude (Patroclus+Menoetius) is predicted to be 14.42, so it will be 13 times fainter than the star it is occulting.
Of-date coordinates for the target star on event night are RA 00:43:52.9 (0.7313611), Dec -14:51:45 (-14.862500).