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[Centaur]

The 61% illuminated waxing gibbous Moon will occult magnitude +2.9 Mu Geminorum for North American observers during the afternoon and evening of 2011 MAR13. This will be an evening event only for those in the eastern portion of the continent. For those of us in Chicagoland, immersion will take place before sunset and emersion after sunset.

Observers on a graze path will be able to witness the star winking on and off as lunar hills and valleys pass by. Those between the graze paths will see a full occultation. Immersion will generally occur on the lunar dark limb, while emersion should come from the bright limb. The star’s apparent equatorial coordinates at the time of the event will be RA 06:23:39.9 and Dec N 22°30’24”.

I’ve created a graze map for North America. and a preview graphic with data for observers at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium. They can be seen by clicking www.curtrenz.com/moon

Photos and descriptions of the event would be welcome additions to this thread. If you would like occultation or graze data specifically for your location, then please reply to this post with a longitude, latitude, time zone and altitude above sea level.

[Paulie pchris00]

I don’t have much of a story to tell for Sunday’s lunar occultation of Mu Geminorum, but here it is anyway. Every forecast I heard on the radio or read online said Sunday night was going to be clear, but what I saw outside and on the satellite images told me otherwise. I ignored my gut feeling, and drove out to Conway Observatory in Lowell, Indiana. I attended a training class Friday, March 11, and earned a key to the observatory. Since Sunday night was the last night of my vacation, and I hadn’t done any observing, I wanted to go out to the observatory and learn the 16” telescope there.


I arrived before 6 PM, but the afternoon’s clouds were refusing to depart. After surveying the premises and deciding not to set up one of my own telescopes on the observing pad, I went inside. I set up my computer and listened to some old observing podcasts to kill time. I walked through the observatory, mentally walking myself through the steps to open the roof and fire up the telescope.




Conway Observatory in Lowell, IN.




It was cloudy when I arrived.




I thought about setting up one of my own telescopes on the observing pad, but decided not to.


I checked conditions outside every so often, and just when I thought my drive had been for nothing, I saw the Moon shining through the clouds. I thought about opening the roof then, but noticed the time was 7:50. I double checked the emersion time: 7:53.

I went down to my car to set up my 6” Dobsonian, the easiest telescope to set up in a hurry. Still, by the time I was ready to observe, Mu Geminorum was already emerged from behind the lunar disk. Luna, relentless in it’s orbit, continued to move further east of the star. After getting a few images, I went inside the observatory, opened the roof, and proceeded to get familiar with the telescope.






Images of Mu Geminorum shortly after emersion, approximately 8 PM CST.




The 16" Meade LX 200. Lots of observing power!




A lunar image taken from the 16" scope. The picture does not do justice to the view. I felt like I was standing on the rim of Copernicus looking into the crater.


It was hazy and cold, not good observing conditions, not to mention that the high, slightly gibbous Moon was casting a glow over much of the sky. Obviously, hunting down faint fuzzies wasn’t much of an option, and I didn’t want the hassle of star charts in the cold. I limited my observations to Luna and Saturn. Yes, I know: all that power and all I used it for was the two objects visible in the sky nearest to Earth. I felt it was observing time well spent, though, experimenting with the telescope controls and eyepieces. I’ll get back out there on a better night and play with the full power of the 16” telescope.

[Centaur]

Thank you for the fine description of your effort, Paulie. Your dedication paid off with nice pictures. We’re experiencing an occultation drought this year, so glad you got to observe at least the aftermath of one.

There will be an occultation of Venus on June 30. However it will not be visible from North America. In fact it will be a rather poor show for those in the path. It will be a daylight event with the Moon less than 13° from the Sun. However a Portuguese professor and his student are making a big deal of the daytime conjunction (not occultation) in the skies of Fatima. They’re hoping the event portends another miracle like the alleged one there in 1917. On other astronomical message boards they are rather dismissive of those who are warning them not to expect seeing much.