The 11 November 2021 multi-chord stellar occultation by trans-Neptunian object (119951) 2002 TC302&#160;
Authors: Kretlow Mike , Ortiz José Luis , Sicardy Bruno , Braga-Ribas Felipe , Desmars Josselin , Fernández-Valenzuela Estela , Morales Nicolás , Santos-Sanz Pablo , Kilic Yucel , Morgado Bruno , Benedetti-Rossi Gustavo , Camargo Julio , Rommel Flavia L. , Vara-Lubiano Mónica , Duffard René , Assafin Marcelo , Ramos Gomes Júnior Altair , Souami Damya , Vieira-Martins Roberto , Álvarez-Candal Álvaro ,   2002 TC302 occultation team
Published: September 2022

&lt;p&gt;Centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are considered to be among the most pristine members of our solar system and carry plenty of information on the physical and dynamical processes that shaped our solar system.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here we report the occultation observation of the star &lt;em&gt;Gaia&lt;/em&gt; EDR3 133768513079427328 (G: 11.7 mag, R: 11.3 mag) by the TNO (119951) 2002 TC302 on November 11, 2021. The shadow path was predicted to cross central Europe and USA. We received a total of 57 observations reports, with at least 19 positive detections and 25 miss reports (no event detected).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;2002 TC302 is a high-inclination (i ~ 35&amp;#176;) TNO in a 2:5 resonance with Neptune, orbiting the Sun in an average distance of about 55 au. The radiometric diameter from &lt;em&gt;Herschel&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Spitzer&lt;/em&gt; thermal observations is 584.1 (+106.5, -88.0) km [1], while the analysis of a multi-chord stellar occultation observed on 28 January 2018, combined with light curve data, revealed an area-equivalent diameter of 499.6 &amp;#177; 10.2 km [2]. From our preliminary elliptical profile fit of the 11 November 2021 occultation observations we derived a projected area-equivalent diameter of 500.3 &amp;#177; 2.5 km, which is consistent with the above mentioned value from the previous stellar occultation in 2018. The 2018 and 2021 occultation diameters are significant (about 84 km) smaller than the radiometric diameter, which might be even larger (D ~ 643 km) after a reanalysis of the &lt;em&gt;Herschel&lt;/em&gt; data [3]. This discrepancy might indicate the existence of an unresolved satellite, but other possibilities are being considered as well [see also 2,3].&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;span dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot;&gt;Acknowledgments:&lt;/span&gt; We acknowledge financial support from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the &quot;Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa&quot; award to the Instituto de Astrof&amp;#237;sica de Andaluc&amp;#237;a (SEV-2017-0709). Funding from Spanish projects PID2020-112789GB-I00 from AEI and Proyecto de Excelencia de la Junta de Andaluc&amp;#237;a PY20-01309 is acknowledged. Part of the research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Community&amp;#8217;s H2020 (2014-2020/ERC Grant Agreement no. 669416 &amp;#8220;LUCKY STAR&amp;#8221;). M.V-L. acknowledges funding from Spanish project AYA2017-89637-R (FEDER/MICINN). P.S-S. acknowledges financial support by the Spanish grant AYA-RTI2018-098657-J-I00 &amp;#8220;LEO-SBNAF&amp;#8221;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;[1] S. Fornasier, E. Lellouch, T. M&amp;#252;ller, et al., A&amp;A, 555 (2013) A15. &lt;br /&gt;[2] J. L. Ortiz, P. Santos-Sanz, B. Sicardy, et al., A&amp;A, 639 (2020) A134.&lt;br /&gt;[3] J. L. Ortiz, and the 20-coauthor team, EPSC2020-686, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2020-686, 2020.&lt;/p&gt;