Simulation of theoretical light curves during an occultation

Abstract

We present a geometrical approach to simulate the light curves during an asteroid occultation. As the asteroid passes in front of a star, the star temporarily disappears. This is presented by showing the radiant power with respect to the offset angle and time for various sizes of the asteroid. Since the stars vary in brightness, we also show the relationship between the limiting magnitude and the aperture diameter of the telescope. It was observed that as the aperture diameter is increased, more faint stars can be detected.