  A CCD drift-scanning technique for lunar occultation (LO) observations is
presented. While this approach has been addressed before by Sturmann (1994) for
the case of large telescopes, the technical validity has never been discussed
for sub-meter class telescopes. In contrast to Sturmann's scheme, the proposed
technique places the CCD in the image plane of the telescope. This does not
represent a problem in the case of small telescopes, where the practical
angular resolution attainable by LO is not limited by aperture smoothing.
Photon-generated charge is read out at millisecond rate on a column-per-column
basis, as the diffraction pattern of the occulted star is being tracked. Two LO
events (SAO 79031 and SAO 77911) were observed to demonstrate the feasibility
of the method. Data analysis was carried out and no angular diameter the
observed stars were resolved. We show, however, that the technique could be
useful for close binary detections with small telescopes. A discussion of the
limiting resolution and magnitude imposed by our instrumentation is carried
out, showing that drift-scanning technique could be extended to 1-2m telescopes
for stellar diameter determination purposes. Finally, we point out that the
technical demands required by this technique can be easily met by most small
professional observatories and advanced amateurs.
