The waning Half Moon will occult (cover) the magnitude +0.9 star Aldebaran for observers in eastern North America during the night of 2015 SEP 04-05. Most folks with clear skies on the east coast will be able to observe both the immersion and emersion during the middle of the night.
For Chicagoland observers only the emersion will be seen very late in the evening shortly after the Moon and Aldebaran have risen in the east-northeast. I predict emersion for Adler Planetarium observers at 23:39:19 CDT.
Immersion will occur on the lunar bright limb and emersion on the dark limb. The northern graze path will be in Canada, and the southern graze path will be in the Atlantic Ocean and Africa. Observers on a graze path will witness the star winking on and off as lunar hills and valleys pass by. Observers between the two graze paths will see a full occultation.
I’ve created a North American graze map, preview graphic with data for New York City, and a set of Besselian elements. They can be seen at www.CurtRenz.com/occultations.html
Photos and descriptions of the event would be welcome additions to this thread. If you would like specific occultation or graze predictions for your location, please reply to this post with your longitude, latitude, elevation and time zone.
For Chicagoland observers only the emersion will be seen very late in the evening shortly after the Moon and Aldebaran have risen in the east-northeast. I predict emersion for Adler Planetarium observers at 23:39:19 CDT.
Immersion will occur on the lunar bright limb and emersion on the dark limb. The northern graze path will be in Canada, and the southern graze path will be in the Atlantic Ocean and Africa. Observers on a graze path will witness the star winking on and off as lunar hills and valleys pass by. Observers between the two graze paths will see a full occultation.
I’ve created a North American graze map, preview graphic with data for New York City, and a set of Besselian elements. They can be seen at www.CurtRenz.com/occultations.html
Photos and descriptions of the event would be welcome additions to this thread. If you would like specific occultation or graze predictions for your location, please reply to this post with your longitude, latitude, elevation and time zone.
