Occultation of Neptune Sep 15.

[Ouroboros]

Will Neptune be easy to observe at magnitude 7.8 against the nearly full Moon during the upcoming occultation in the early evening of 15 September? 

[jabeoo1]

Good question, difficult to say.  I guess you may see it get glared out before it 'touches' the limb?  One way to find out  

[Knighty2112]

Good question indeed. As I've not bagged Neptune before, and if it's clear on the night, I'll be looking for it well before the occultation anyway!  

[Stu]

Hard to say. Looks like the sky might still be too bright at 8pm to pick it up so close to the moon. Might be easier as it comes out from behind the moon at about 8.55pm

[Special K]

That sounds like a tough one to me.  The Eastern limb will have a thin crescent of darkness since it is still waxing gibbous on the 15th before being full on the 16th.  Depending on how much time you have watch it before and after, if possible!

I'd pin down exact position of Neptune on nights beforehand to save frustration.

Clear-good seeing skies!

[Ouroboros]

9 hours ago, Special K said:

That sounds like a tough one to me.  The Eastern limb will have a thin crescent of darkness since it is still waxing gibbous on the 15th before being full on the 16th.  Depending on how much time you have watch it before and after, if possible!

I'd pin down exact position of Neptune on nights beforehand to save frustration.

Clear-good seeing skies!

That's a good idea - not least to make sure that Neptune is visible at that low (~8°) elevation above the horizon.   I think I might have to find a viewing  location away from home as there's a tree in the way. 

[Demonperformer]

The AN write-up describes this as "an almost impossible visual challenge" because of the disparity in brightnesses and the low altitude. It suggests the only "sane" way to record the event will be with "a planetary imaging camera set to seriously overexpose the lunar limb at emersion".

It further suggests that "if you like a tough challenge, you could see how long after Neptune emerges you manage to detect it". Now, there's a thought.

[Ouroboros]

We like a challenge of SGL!! .     The biggest challenge might be cloud cover. Clear Outside forecast isn't optimistic. 

[Demonperformer]

So " how long after Neptune emerges you manage to detect it" could be several days ... or weeks ...

[goodricke1]

Recently I was tracking a mag 6.6 star as the full moon approached but lost it in the glare, and Neptune is more than twice as faint...

[Ouroboros]

I just spent half an hour or so re-familiarising  myself with Neptune's position in Aquarius. It ain't easy, despite the Moon being way over in the west just now.  The planet was just about visible through my bins admittedly through somewhat hazy skies. It is going to be next to impossible to see this occultation I would have though. I'll still try though. 

[goodricke1]

Clouds.

[Ouroboros]

Same here.  I doubt it would have been visible anyway. Neptune wasn't visible the clear night before last because of the Moon. I

[Demonperformer]

On 10/09/2016 at 09:33, Demonperformer said:

So " how long after Neptune emerges you manage to detect it" could be several days ... or weeks ...

It is now nearly 10 hours since it emerged and I still haven't detected it

[Special K]

It's clear here and moon is FULL!  However I'm not going to try for Neptune to avoid disappointment