Moon occults Uranus Sept 14

[JeremyS]

An interesting event to observe: https://britastro.org/2022/observers-challenge-the-moons-occults-uranus-on-14th-september-2022

 

[Mandy D]

16 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

An interesting event to observe: https://britastro.org/2022/observers-challenge-the-moons-occults-uranus-on-14th-september-2022

 

Nice. Thanks for posting this. I'm definitely hoping for clear skies now.

[Knighty2112]

Thanks. I am away for work on Monday/Tuesday down in South Wales, but should be back home for Tuesday night hopefully. 👍🏻 Although I could take a small ‘frac and tripod just in case I get stuck for getting back home. 😉

Edited September 10, 2022 by Knighty2112

[Peter Drew]

A bit optimistic to see Uranus naked eye at mag 5.7 close to the mood.  Should be a good binocular/telescope view though.   🙂

[Space Hopper]

Thanks for the heads up.

I'll look out for it 😀🔭

[Mandy D]

12 hours ago, Peter Drew said:

A bit optimistic to see Uranus naked eye at mag 5.7 close to the mood.  Should be a good binocular/telescope view though.   🙂

I was wondering about this when I read the article. It's practically impossible to see any of Jupiter's moons with the naked eye because of the brightness of the planet, so this should be much worse.

[paulastro]

23 hours ago, Knighty2112 said:

Thanks. I am away for work on Monday/Tuesday down in South Wales, but should be back home for Tuesday night hopefully. 👍🏻 Although I could take a small ‘frac and tripod just in case I get stuck for getting back home. 😉

Tuesday is 13th 😊.

[HollyHound]

Thanks for heads up 👍

If we get clear skies, this might be a great (new) binocular opportunity🤞

[Astro_Dad]

Looking forward to this. Scope Nights suggests “fair” conditions this Wednesday in my location so I have some hope of seeing my first occultation. 
I was reading the article in this months S@N on how best to view this event earlier - well worth a look and the article on how to image is interesting for those who fancy an even greater challenge! 

[Gfamily]

On 10/09/2022 at 22:49, Peter Drew said:

A bit optimistic to see Uranus naked eye at mag 5.7 close to the mood.  Should be a good binocular/telescope view though.   🙂

Agreed - and even through binoculars, it would be a challenge to see it against the bright limb. The Moon is about 2 million times brighter than Uranus. 

Easier might be seeing it reappear about 52 minutes later (for my location at least), as that will be emerging from the dark limb. 

Edited September 12, 2022 by Gfamily

[ED Splitter]

Set your alarm 

[Peter Drew]

Despite the evening being completely overcast, a quarter of an hour before the occultation a clear gap suddenly appeared,  glad we turned up!

Telescopes used were a C8, SW 150ED, 10" Dob and a 16" SCT.  The first three were visual and the 16" SCT was fitted with a camera.

Seeing was very unsteady and it was difficult to see the exact moment of contact.

Frustratingly, moments before the reappearance a new cloud bank covered the Moon.

 

Still, 50% of the event was better than the expected 0%.    🙂

Edited September 14, 2022 by Peter Drew

[Space Hopper]

Despite the quite favourable forecast for tonight, we were almost completely clouded out here in Derby.

Occultation by clouds !!  I could put my mortgage on that happening !  🙄

I will reconvene on December 5th.

[woldsman]

Uranus’ disappearance was a non-event due to clouds & the low position of the Moon (10 degrees) at Latitude 51 degrees 55 minutes N. But its reappearance was spectacular - skies cleared & at 20 degrees the viewing was excellent. The exact moment Uranus popped into the eyepiece will stay with me a long time. Used a 4” Tal 1 kindly given to me by @Roy Challen - thanks mate. Tried hard to see a hint of blue at magnifications x32, x56 & x96 but to no real avail. Also had a pair of 10x50 binos with me but these revealed no trace of the planet due to Moonlight.

Edited September 14, 2022 by woldsman

[Space Hopper]

Good to hear some of you guys got to see something, at least.

I think i spent more time looking into my coffee cup, than i did at any stars, moon and planets.

[Roy Challen]

6 hours ago, woldsman said:

Uranus’ disappearance was a non-event due to clouds & the low position of the Moon (10 degrees) at Latitude 51 degrees 55 minutes N. But its reappearance was spectacular - skies cleared & at 20 degrees the viewing was excellent. The exact moment Uranus popped into the eyepiece will stay with me a long time. Used a 4” Tal 1 kindly given to me by @Roy Challen - thanks mate. Tried hard to see a hint of blue at magnifications x32, x56 & x96 but to no real avail. Also had a pair of 10x50 binos with me but these revealed no trace of the planet due to Moonlight.

That Tal was saved from the bin. Nice to hear it's getting used.

[paulastro]

Because of my horizon and the low altitude I knew I couldn't see Uranus before 10.20 at the earliest.  Heavy skies at 10.00pm but went out anyway at 10.10 to set up the 8inch Starsense.  

There were some small clear areas developing, and with the dob nearly horizontal I picked up Uranus just off the lunar limb at 10.25.  The limb was scintillating quite badly and there was thin cloud intervening, but I did manage to see the occultation - though it wasn't a very 'clean' view due to the conditions, and the difference in magnitudes.

Still pleased to see it at all when it had seemed very unlikely just before the event.  I missed the reappearance due to cloud coming in for a complete obscuration just two minutes before the due time.