Abstract :
[en] E. Jehin, J. Manfroid, M. Gillon, D. Hutsemekers, and P. Magain report that they observed an occultation of a star of magnitude I about 15.2 by the dwarf planet Eris (then at V about 18.7) on Nov. 6 using the new telescope TRAPPIST at the European Southern Observatory (La Silla). A series of 3-s exposures of a field of size 3' x 3' (1".3/pixel) were secured in fast-readout mode (with a deadtime of 1.5 s), starting at 01h50m UT for one hour. Seven frames centered at 02h19m34s UT allowed them to derive the start of the occultation as 02h19m16s.75 +/- 0s.75 and the end as 02h19m47s.6 +/- 0s.2, for a total occultation time of 30.4 +/- 1.0 seconds. The predictions (see above) made by the Rio de Janeiro group (Assafin et al., Nov. 5) and by J. L. Ortiz estimated the time of the occultation around 02h18m UT for Chile, in good agreement with the observations. During the occultation, a point source is detected with a magnitude corresponding to that of Eris. A small flux increase was also seen at the middle of the occultation, which might result from refraction in Eris' atmosphere (Elliot and Olkin 1996, Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 24, 89). Eris is by far the most-remote solar-system object observed to date via stellar occultation, with a geocentric distance of about 96 AU. TRAPPIST is a project driven by the University of Liege, in close collaboration with the Observatory of Geneva, supported by the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research and the Swiss National Science Foundation.
