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[Centaur]

On the night of 2010 DEC 20/21 there will be a total lunar eclipse visible from North America among other places. For Chicagolanders the eclipsed Moon will occult the 83 km asteroid 348 May. Immersion will occur during eclipse totality, while emersion will occur on the Moon’s still darkened limb during the final partial phase. For some observers elsewhere the eclipsed Moon will completely occult the open cluster NGC 2129. For Chicagolanders the Moon will occult some of the southernmost components of that cluster after the Moon has exited the penumbra. Naturally, all of the involved objects will appear in opposition to the Sun during that night. I’ll be posting preview graphics and more details later in the autumn.

For now I’ll present an eclipse timetable in Central Standard Time:

2010 DEC 20/21
23:29 CST Moon enters penumbra
00:33 CST Partial phase begins
01:41 CST Totality begins
02:17 CST Maximum eclipse
02:53 CST Totality ends
04:01 CST Partial phase ends
05:04 CST Moon exits penumbra

In the meantime, I’ll be happy to provide localized occultation timetables for those who reply in this thread with a geographic longitude, latitude, time zone and altitude above sea level.

I was alerted to these occultations by Jean Meeus in volumes #2 and #5 of his Mathematical Astronomy Morsels series: www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0943396514/crastro-20

[patrickm]

Very, very cool! Can't wait!