Event Date: July 16th
Time: 5:00/5:43(.34) AM
Brief
Let's continue following the Moon, after its fun grouping with Venus, Jupiter and Aldebaran. This morning, we even get to see our satellite occult a 3.0 magnitude star: Zeta Tauri, the southern horn of Taurus. El Nath, which I have shown and talked about a few times, is the northern star. The first image shows a 5º high-power binocular view of the star and Moon, about 43 minutes before the start of occulatation. The Moon's light makes the star very difficult to see the star with the eye alone, so I am refraining to show them zoomed out.
Time: 5:00/5:43(.34) AM
Brief
Let's continue following the Moon, after its fun grouping with Venus, Jupiter and Aldebaran. This morning, we even get to see our satellite occult a 3.0 magnitude star: Zeta Tauri, the southern horn of Taurus. El Nath, which I have shown and talked about a few times, is the northern star. The first image shows a 5º high-power binocular view of the star and Moon, about 43 minutes before the start of occulatation. The Moon's light makes the star very difficult to see the star with the eye alone, so I am refraining to show them zoomed out.
Detailed
As we see the Moon rise, its lit portion moves closer to Zeta Tauri, and starts covering it up at the second time listed above. This second image shows a magnification of the star (centered) a second before the Moon covers it. The Moon's orbit doesn't always let it occult this star, as a result of the precession of the nodes, talked about here several times. Unfortunately, the sky is too light to see the star by the time that the occultation finishes at 6:48(.11). As a result of Zeta Tauri disappearing behind the lit portion of the Moon, it may be very difficult to see during the last few minutes before occultation begins. Viewers in Hawaii and any islands a little further east of there, get a good view of the end of the occultation, although the pair is low in the sky.
Finally, Also with this first zoom in, notice the "smudge" at the Moon's upper left about 1º away. What is that?? Find out tomorrow.
As we see the Moon rise, its lit portion moves closer to Zeta Tauri, and starts covering it up at the second time listed above. This second image shows a magnification of the star (centered) a second before the Moon covers it. The Moon's orbit doesn't always let it occult this star, as a result of the precession of the nodes, talked about here several times. Unfortunately, the sky is too light to see the star by the time that the occultation finishes at 6:48(.11). As a result of Zeta Tauri disappearing behind the lit portion of the Moon, it may be very difficult to see during the last few minutes before occultation begins. Viewers in Hawaii and any islands a little further east of there, get a good view of the end of the occultation, although the pair is low in the sky.
Finally, Also with this first zoom in, notice the "smudge" at the Moon's upper left about 1º away. What is that?? Find out tomorrow.
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