The UT 7/8 February 2013 Sila-Nunam mutual event & future predictions

A superior mutual event of the Kuiper Belt binary system (79360) Sila-Nunam was observed over 15.47. h on UT 7/8 February 2013 by a coordinated effort at four different telescope facilities; it started ~1.5. h earlier than anticipated, the duration was ~9.5. h (about 10% longer than predicted), and was slightly less deep than predicted. It is the first full event observed for a comparably sized binary Kuiper Belt object. We provide predictions for future events refined by this and other partial mutual event observations obtained since the mutual event season began. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.