Douglas. J. Mink
Over the past 20 years, stellar occultations have been use to probe planetary atmospheres and study the structures of planetary ring systems. This has been made easier by the location of many of the outer planets in star-dense regions near the galactic plane. By looking at the distribution of occultations over the 100 years from 1950 to 2050, we can see how lucky recent astronomers have been and what is in store for the future as well what great occultations were missed in the past. Interesting artifacts of spatial and brightness distribution of stars within star catalogs are also exposed. Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto results are online.
Presented at the annual meeting of the Division on Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society in Yosemite National Park on April 24, 1995