Catch a Fall Feast of Lunar Occultations in September
September offers a number of fascinating lunar occultation events worldwide.
September offers a number of fascinating lunar occultation events worldwide.
Most North America gets to see the Moon blot out Antares Thursday night.
A worldwide team of dedicated observers ‘stood in the shadow’ of asteroid Didymos recently, as it passed in front of a distant star. Amateur astronomers continue to provide key scientific observations, even in the modern era. This was highlighted recently, when a team of dedicated observers caught a series of occultation of a distant stars …
Continue reading “Occultation Chasers Nab the Shadow of Didymos, Post DART Impact”
An unusual celestial spectacle unfolds for observers around the Great Lakes region next Tuesday at dawn. The Moon has been faithfully occulting (passing in front of) the bright star Aldebaran for every lunation now since January 29th, 2015. This split second events have touched on nearly every farflung corner of the Earth. Now the United States and Canada get to see the penultimate event, as the waning crescent Moon occults Aldebaran one last time for North America.
Ever watch the Moon cover up a star? There’s a great chance to see just such an event this coming weekend, when the waxing gibbous Moon occults (passes in front of) the bright star Aldebaran for much of North America.
Host: Fraser Cain (@fcain) Guests: Paul M. Sutter (pmsutter.com / @PaulMattSutter) Morgan Rehnberg (MorganRehnberg.com / @MorganRehnberg) Dave Dickinson (www.astroguyz.com / @astroguyz) Their stories this week: Comet 45P Flies Past Earth A new “kind” of black hole A Penumbral Lunar Eclipse The Moon Occults Regulus Mars didn’t have enough CO2 to sustain liquid water ISS is …
It’s a busy week for the Moon. While our large solitary natural satellite reaches Full and interferes with the 2016 Geminids, it’s also beginning a series of complex bright star occultations of Aldebaran and Regulus, giving us a taste of things to come in 2017. First up, here’s the lowdown on this week’s occultation of …
Continue reading “This Week: Occultations of Aldebaran, Regulus vs. the Supermoon”
The Moon occults Aldebaran tonight, crosses the Hyades star cluster and more.
Up for a challenge? Over the next two weekends, two asteroid occultations pass over North America. These are both occulting (passing in front of) +7th magnitude stars, easy targets for even binoculars or a small telescope. These events both have a probability score of 99-100%, meaning the paths are known to a high degree of accuracy. These are also two of the more high profile asteroid occultations for 2016.
Set your alarm for Friday morning at dawn when the crescent Moon will either cover up, barely miss or pass in splendid conjunction with Aldebaran, the brightest star in Taurus.