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Possible lunar occultation tonight?

peterjtmorris

By peterjtmorris
in The Astro Lounge

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peterjtmorris

peterjtmorris

Posted
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I was using Stellarium just now and by chance happened to notice that there appears to be an occultation of Lambda Geminorum about 1.00 hours (UT) tomorrow, according to Stellarium it starts about 12.20 in London and ends about 1.20. OK, I know Stellarium is just a free planetarium program, but when I have used it for genuine occultations in the past it has been pretty accurate. But I cannot find any mention of it on the web, not even on a site dedicated to lunar occultations. I am wondering if the reason could be that it is visible here in London, but not in the USA where most astronomical sites are based? Can anyone run a more accurate program on this? Anyone know anything about it? Thanks.

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Stu

Stu

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Nice spot, decently bright star as you say.

Forecast not looking great here but may get some clear spells. I do enjoy watching stars appear/disappear behind the dark limb of a part phase moon. Not sure I can do a 1am on a 'school' night though :-(

Stu

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brantuk

brantuk

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Yes - I saw the moon/saturn occultation too - using binocs - it was fascinating. It's only one thing going behind another, but it made me realise that Earth and the Moon and Saturn were all in a straight line across the vast expanse of space at that particular instant.

No biggie really - other stuff does it all the time - but kinda magic and exciting - like an eclipse or a solar transit. :)

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Stu

Stu

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Found the one I saw on Stellarium, 3rd November 2001, looks like the image I posted from the interweb. I watched it through my first scope, a Celestron C150HD 6" refractor on an EQ3 mount I think.

post-6762-138506224655_thumb.jpg

post-6762-138506226906_thumb.jpg

Rings were wide open at that point too, I remember seeing the Enke gap through that scope around that time, much harder these days!

Stu

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Stu

Stu

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Thanks for your responses and interest, it will encourage me to post on SGL again. Forecast does not look here at the moment.

Please do!

Apologies for taking the thread slightly off piste. Put it down to youthful enthusiasm :-)

Hope the clouds go away.

Stu

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peterjtmorris

peterjtmorris

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Well, I saw it. Lambda Gem seemed to disappear in the middle of a crater as far as I could tell. You could still see a bit of the star as it was eclipsed, at precisely 12.22. Fascinating to see, the brightness of the star made it easier. I am afraid I will have to leave the reappearance which will of course be more dramatic coming from the dark side as I need my kip, have been up very early two mornings in the last week to see Comets ISON and Lovejoy.  

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