Heads up, Moon moving through Taurus 4th March 2017

[Stu]

I found this interesting article on S&T covering an occultation of Aldebaran visible in the US.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/aldebaran-occultation-march-4-2017/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=sky-mya-nl-170303&utm_content=926395_EDT_SKY_170303&utm_medium=email

I had a look on trusty old SkySafari, and although this particular event is not visible to us in the UK, the dark limb of the moon does occult mag 3.7 Hyadum, Gamma Tauri at around 8.45pm tonight while the moon is still quite high. It should look amazing when it winks out instantly as it is occulted. Should be plenty of other dimmer stars occulted too.

The inevitable SkySafari images to show the times etc. Hope it's clear for you!

[Knighty2112]

Thank's Stu. If the clouds clear tonight (doubtful, but hoping for the best!) I'll have a looksie! Ta!  

[Dave In Vermont]

And over the pond, UniverseToday has a Taurus & Moon tale to tell:

http://www.universetoday.com/133798/catch-the-great-american-occultation-of-aldebaran-saturday-night/

Enjoy & Clear Skies!

Dave

PS - Small world, eh Stu?!

[Stu]

Remarkably, the skies are currently clear and I'm out with the OMC140 on the trusty Vixen GP.

I'm using a 40mm Burgess Optical, which by rights should vignette horribly but doesn't at all!

I see earthshine, a lovely terminator and Gamma Tauri heading in towards the limb. Let's hope the sky stays clear for another ten minutes!

[Knighty2112]

Managed to miss the occultation, but did get a few hours soaking up some old friends again before clouds fully rolled in again to stop play. 

[John]

Just started to rain here but there were no breaks in the clouds earlier anyway  

Hope you got a view Stu

 

 

 

[Stu]

Amazingly the skies stayed clear enough for me to see this. It was beautifully clear until a few minutes before and then some hazy cloud came over. It masked the earthshine, but I still saw the star blink out behind the dark limb of the moon.

I took a couple of iPhone shots, one overexposed to show Gamma Tauri as it approached.

 

 

[John]

Very nice Stu

That "blink out" moment is quite wonderful isn't it ?. I saw an unexpected occultation of a star a few weeks ago. Not a grazing one but a straight on "now you see it, now you don't". A lovely little bonus for that session.

 

[Alpollo]

I just viewed it from the front window, if I knew about it sooner then 10 minutes ago I may have setup the scope for a nice shot.

Pretty nifty, thanks for the heads up.

[Stu]

As a follow up to this, here is a report and video from observers right on the 'grazing' line. Amazing stuff!

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/remarkable-view-aldebaran-occultation/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=sky-mya-nl-170310&utm_content=928192_EDT_SKY_170310&utm_medium=email