Moon about to occult a mag 5.7 star - 21.58 5th May 2020

[Stu]

Looks like 80 Virginia will be occulted by the dark limb of the Moon just before 10pm tonight. It will appear to blink out instantly so should be good to watch. Just don’t blink yourself!

[Littleguy80]

Thanks for heads up, Stu. Inspired me to head outside with the frac. It’s like seeing the small speck of an X-Wing next to the Death Star 😂

[Littleguy80]

There’s a near set of craters on the terminator close to where 80 Vir is heading. Haven’t identified them yet though. 

Edited May 5, 2020 by Littleguy80

[John]

I'm out with my 130mm frac but clouds meant that I missed that occultation.

I'm right on the edge of a cloud layer tonight. It is shifting very slowly in the right direction (ie: more clear sky showing) but its a slow process.

 

[Stu]

50 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

There’s a near set of craters on the terminator close to where 80 Vir is heading. Haven’t identified them yet though. 

It was up near Sinus Iridum so is this any use?

I caught it nicely in the Mewlon. I was experimenting with it on an EQ Mount but it was too wobbly so did a quick switch to the AZ100 with 5 mins to spare. I ended up being too scared of missing it to check the time so was staring away for what seemed like hours! Managed not to blink at the crucial moment fortunately.

Wonderful views of Schröter’s Valley again in the binoviewers at over x300. Switching from cyclops to these did really improve the view I must say, lovely bright detail on the inside walls of Aristarchus. Even a few Plato craterlets on show, 3 or 4 I think.

Sorry to hear the clouds are teasing you tonight @John  

[Littleguy80]

29 minutes ago, Stu said:

It was up near Sinus Iridum so is this any use?

As it occulted it passes a large crater where a small peak could be seen rising just above the crater wall. I think that was sat slightly closer to the terminator than the labelled craters. I’ll have to get the Moon Atlas out later to see if I can figure out which crater it was.  

Very much enjoyed the occultation. Thanks for the heads up!