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[Centaur]

The 43% illuminated waning crescent Moon will occult stars of the Pleiades (M45) cluster for North Americans during the predawn hours of 2009 AUG 14. Immersions will occur on the lunar bright limb and emersions on the dark limb. Observers located on a graze path will witness a star winking on and off as lunar hills and valleys pass by. Those between graze paths will see full occultations.

I’ve created three graphics related to the event. The first is a graze map for North America of the six brightest Pleiads. The second is a graze map for northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin of three Pleiads (2nd, 4th & 10th brightest). The third is a preview of the event as seen from Chicago’s Adler Planetarium. They can be seen by clicking: www.curtrenz.com/astronomical

Photos and descriptions of the event would be welcome additions to this thread.

[Centaur]

At the time of the occultation on 2009 AUG 14, magnitude +5.4 Celaeno (10th brightest Pleiad) will be at RA 03:45:23.4 and Dec N 24°19’14”. Below are its Chicagoland graze times, longitudes, latitudes and zenith angles (positions on the lunar limb measured counterclockwise from the zenith.)

03:58:55 CDT W 88.5° N 41.84223° ZA 33.8°
03:59:06 CDT W 88.4° N 41.90212° ZA 33.7°
03:59:17 CDT W 88.3° N 41.96190° ZA 33.6°
03:59:28 CDT W 88.2° N 42.02156° ZA 33.5°
03:59:38 CDT W 88.1° N 42.08110° ZA 33.4°
03:59:49 CDT W 88.0° N 42.14053° ZA 33.3°
04:00:00 CDT W 87.9° N 42.19984° ZA 33.2°
04:00:11 CDT W 87.8° N 42.25904° ZA 33.1°

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Curt,

Hey...that's just about at your front door!

Sweet!

How will you document this event?

Cool graphic...as always.

[Centaur]

Aug 7, 2009 16:46:26 GMT -6 Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe said:

Curt,

Hey...that's just about at your front door!

Sweet!

How will you document this event?

Cool graphic...as always.

I provided the preview, Joe. I’ll stand aside and allow others to document afterward. Interestingly, the Celaeno graze path includes the Harper College observatory in Palatine. What Luck! Below is a graphic I created with data for that location.