This is really cool. A very bright (m_v = 1.4) star is going to disappear because of an asteroid occultation. That in itself is cool, but the science that can be done with it is exceptional. This occultation will only happen for people around New York and points NW and SE of it. Now, imagine if you had thousands of people at different points all looking to determine when the star disappeared. If they all record the time (and their GPS position) of the disappearance and reappearance of the star, they can essentially map the structure of the asteroid.
Check out the records from previous occultations (of a double asteroid 90 Antiope and a single asteroid 704 Interamnia. The different lines show when different people could see the star. The dark spots show when they couldn't. So now we know the shapes of those asteroids! Much more good information at
Sky and Telescope.
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