Beautiful occultation tonight

[kerrylewis]

I almost forgot about it but caught the occultation of a bright star (will have to look up which). I could see the pale 'dark' portion of the moon approaching the star and then 'click' like someone switching a light off. And then the reappearance about 20 mins later. This time from the bright limb and it seemed slightly more gradual but probably a factor of the moon's brightness. Still quite sudden as the bright star was there floating away from the moon's edge. Surprisingly beautiful. One if the best I've seen. I love them - gives you a sense of the universe moving on its stately way.

[kerrylewis]

It was Lambda Gemini - mag 3.6

[Pete Presland]

well spotted, been staring at a hazy moon since dusk and i forgot all about it.

[Pig]

Kerry,

As you have quite a passion for occultation's would it be possible for you to PM me on the day of the event?

I love observing the Moon and this will add a little extra into the mix

[kerrylewis]

Kerry,

As you have quite a passion for occultation's would it be possible for you to PM me on the day of the event?

I love observing the Moon and this will add a little extra into the mix

I'll try Shaun but I'm not a reliable guide given that I nearly forgot the one last night! I remember seeing it in a mag or on a website somewhere and then when I pointed the scope at the moon last night (because apart from Jupiter that's all that was visible in the twilight) I thought 'that bright star is pretty close to the moon' and I remembered with 10 mins to spare.

There are various websites but they tend to list them all when it's only the brightest ones that are really worth seeing.

[Pig]

Okies Kerry, I will try and keep my eyes peeled  Its quite a strange term "occultation" are its roots religion based or visa versa, would you know ?

[kerrylewis]

Okies Kerry, I will try and keep my eyes peeled  Its quite a strange term "occultation" are its roots religion based or visa versa, would you know ?

Good question: according to my trusty Oxford dictionary, the occult and occultation come from the same root meaning hidden - hence the occult refers to the hidden or supernatural, and the astronomical meaning follows too.

[Pig]

Most interesting

[neural]

Great to read your report after seeing this myself - and cool that we made similar comments about the universe marching on!  (PS Des canyons... is a Messiaen reference I assume? I'm a huge fan.) 

Dear Pig: have you come across Lunar Occultation Workbench (http://www.doa-site.nl/)? Not the most user-friendly output but I can vouch for its accuracy. 

[kerrylewis]

Great to read your report after seeing this myself - and cool that we made similar comments about the universe marching on!  (PS Des canyons... is a Messiaen reference I assume? I'm a huge fan.) 

Yes it was amazing that we made similar comments. I always feel that seeing such events and marvel at the predictability of them - proof that the universe is revolving according to plan. The most moving example is a total eclipse of the sun. Nothing beats that.

Yes it is Messiaen - you are the first to comment on it . From the canyons to the stars - what a great image! Turangalila symphony is my favourite

Kerry

[mjpfc]

Just like Kerry,

            I had totally forgotten about this and I was busy looking at the Cauchy Region slowly meeting the luna dawn when I noticed

Lambda Geminorum (which I had glided by without a though earlier) getting closer to the darkened Limb.

It winked out of existence at 21:16:54 here, and I waited for it to come back into view (One of the astro mags, said 21:42) with straining eyes

and it eventually popped back into the universe at 21:52.

I was so hooked I waited for another following Gemini star (around 7th Manitude) to do the same, though its dimmness and the thin haze in the

sky made the point of disshapearing vague.

1st Time viewing stella occultation for me and I enjoyed it immensely.

Exactly the same as the inaptly named solar eclipse really, but with a slightly dissapointing view of the corona.

Cloudy tonight but up early tomorrow anyway

Clear skies  Mick

[neural]

Great to read your report after seeing this myself - and cool that we made similar comments about the universe marching on!  (PS Des canyons... is a Messiaen reference I assume? I'm a huge fan.) 

Yes it was amazing that we made similar comments. I always feel that seeing such events and marvel at the predictability of them - proof that the universe is revolving according to plan. The most moving example is a total eclipse of the sun. Nothing beats that.

Yes it is Messiaen - you are the first to comment on it . From the canyons to the stars - what a great image! Turangalila symphony is my favourite

Kerry

I've yet to see a solar eclipse (in 1999 I wasn't interested enough and was badly hung over....) and really hope I do soon. Not from the UK though, Wikipedia tells me.

Messiaen seems to have had a bit of a thing about stars. And planets, come to think of it. More on the mystical side than the astronomical though I suspect. Great man, great music. 

[Phil Fargaze]

 Occultations are indeed powerful examples of our universe in motion.

A note for PIG regarding predictions. Currently I use the BAA Lunar Section monthly circular for occultation predictions here http://www.baalunarsection.org.uk/circulars.htm

plus Occult 4 is currently being maintained to a high degree of accuracy see here http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/occult4.htm

Occult 4 is also a tool to report observations.