Asteroid Occultations with VERITAS: Observations and Considerations

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dc.contributor.authorBartkoske, Joshua
dc.contributor.authorDuerr, Anne
dc.contributor.authorKieda, Dave
dc.contributor.authorValverde, Janeth
dc.contributor.authorVERITAS Collaboration
dc.date.accessioned2026-01-22T16:19:03Z
dc.date.issued2025-12-11
dc.description39th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2025), 14–24 Jul 2025, Geneva, Switzerland
dc.description.abstractOccultations, the covering up of one celestial body by another celestial body, have been used in astronomy for millennia to learn about the sun and moon. Since 2018, VERITAS has implemented a program to detect predicted asteroid occultations, where an asteroid covers up a star. VERITAS has attempted to observe over 100 occultations to date and successfully observed 20 occultations. With these occultations, VERITAS can directly measure the smallest angular diameters of any instrument or technique in the optical for stars between magnitude 9 and 13. Each angular diameter is measured by fitting the diffraction pattern observed by the central VERITAS pixel at the start and end of an occultation. Once a planned FADC upgrade is complete, VERITAS will begin a program to search for serendipitous occultations within its full field of view (3 deg). Serendipitous occultations of sub-km trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) have the potential to constrain models of solar system formation. This work details how VERITAS predicts and observes occultations as well as the overall status of the asteroid occultation program and future steps for observing occultations of both asteroids and TNOs.
dc.description.sponsorshipThis research is supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution, by NSERC in Canada, by the Helmholtz Association in Germany, and by STFC in the UK.We acknowledge the excellent work of the technical support staff at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory and at the collaborating institutions in the construction and operation of the instrument. J. Bartkoske gratefully acknowledges support under NSF award #2411860.
dc.description.urihttp://arxiv.org/abs/2512.11144
dc.format.extent9 pages
dc.genreconference papers and proceedings
dc.genrepreprints
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m2ndhs-eedk
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2512.11144
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/41538
dc.language.isoen
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Faculty Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Center for Space Sciences and Technology (CSST) / Center for Research and Exploration in Space Sciences & Technology II (CRSST II)
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectAstrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
dc.subjectAstrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
dc.subjectAstrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
dc.subjectAstrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
dc.titleAsteroid Occultations with VERITAS: Observations and Considerations
dc.typeText

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