Occultation of Aldebaran on Bonfire Night

[Tim]

 

In the early hours of 6th November 2017, the almost full moon (circa 95% illuminated) passed in front of, or occulted, the 14th brightest star in the sky, Aldebaran, in the Taurus constellation. Thankfully nearly clear skies allowed me to capture the moment just prior to occultation, and the moment Aldebaran emerged from its hiding place, at 02:34 and 03:24.

At the same time as my mono camera was clicking away on an Esprit 150ED telescope, (through a Ha filter for contrast and with 200 millisecond exposures), I was able to observe the phenomenon through a small 10x50 finderscope. I particularly enjoy the emergence, as it appears to pop out of nowhere, an illusion created by the invisible dark edge of the moon.

Thanks for looking.

Tim

 

[geoflewis]

Great captures, well done. I was out in my observatory imaging NGC891, but popping out every so often to observe the moon approach Aldeberan throughout the early hours. I watched the start of the occultation through my 15x70, but packed everything away soon after that, so it's really good to see your image of Aldeberan emerging as the occultation ended.

[Rolf]

You captured this great occultation event very well! First I saw Aldebaran in the second picture only, but then I discovered it in the first view close to the sunlit limb as well. Very nice!

Did you use the H-Alpha filter to increase the contrast within the lunar image, or to improve the visibility of the star close to the bright lunar image?

- Rolf