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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Catch the Rare Lunar Occultation of Jupiter

A great opportunity to catch a rare occultation of the Moon sliding over Jupiter during the morning of the 9th of November.

This graphic from Chicago Astronomer Curt, shows the sequence of the event.

Please visit Curt's site for more information and additional graphics: www.curtrenz.com/astronomical.html

The crescent moon will start to cover Jupiter at the lower lit side at 09:57:23 a.m. and emerge at 10:46:33 a.m. from lower the dark side. This will be an easy event to observe if you have a telescope or binoculars. Once you locate the Moon, just look to the lower left and there you will find a star which will be Jupiter.

If conditions permit, I will observe the event and set up my equipment from the Adler Planetarium site that morning. You will definitely need a telescope to observe this event, and if you don't have one, I invite you all to come down...that is if you can escape from the days obligations for a short while.

More here from Sky and Telescope: skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/occultations/article_1365_1.asp

See you there!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

As it's been quite clear out these past few early mornings, and I have been observing the Venus/Jupiter Conjunction in our eastern skies...and tracking the crescent moon slowly approach Jupiter for the Tuesday November 9th Occultation event.

I plan to catch this sight on Tuesday with my scope at the Adler Planetarium and invite any and all who can steal some time away to join me in this rare event. I have never caught a daytime occultation and this will be a first for me. To darken the sky and increase contrast, I will utilize a polarizer and maybe a blue filter.

Let's see what happens.

[Al Degutis]

I wasn't planning to witness this event as I'm at the work at that time of the morning. I also wasn't planning to have such a bad cold. I ended up calling in sick to work, sleeping in an extra 4.5 hours until 9:00am (CST) and looked outside. It was partly cloudy. Barely enough time to set up the telescope and with the bands of cirrus clouds coming from the west and heading SSE right through the moon I opted to grab the digital camera instead. I grabbed the camera and set up around 9:30am. It was difficult spotting the Moon with the Sun shining not too far away in the southeast. The sunlight shining through the cirrus clouds added to the difficulty.

I spotted the crescent moon and aimed the camera. I brought my laptop out with me so I can see the results on a larger screen since the camera's LCD gave me some false displays of overexposed images of the aurora two days earlier. Plus, I really had no clue what exosure settings to use. The laptop was a real help and I was able to find some decent exposure settings quickly. The crescent Moon was visible with the 300mm lense but I was not able to make out Jupiter either in the view finder or on the laptop display. I forgot to grab my binoculars and it was too close to the occultation. So I just snapped photo after photo.

I stopped shortly after 10:00am and went inside to have a look. It is SO different imaging a celestial object in the daytime. I'm still trying to learn to do it in the darkness of night. I was lucky enough to capture Jupiter just before it was being occulted.

I went back outside, where I had left the equipment set up, around 10:35am. The cirrus clouds were almost all gone. The Moon would be free of cloud interference as Jupiter emerged. I targetted the Moon and started snapping more photos. The crescent Moon against a light blue background. Darn, I forgot to grab my binoculars again. At 10:55am I packed up and went in. Even thought it was about 45 degree F, it was windy and chilly, especially for someone with a cold.

I looked through the 100 photos I snapped and posted a few. At best, Jupiter is a small white spec. I caught Jupiter nearly at the point of occultation and then only after it emerged. I posted a couple of images that show Jupiter circled as it is difficult to see.

skyinsight.net/r/index.php?a=planetphotos

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Al,

Those were good shots of the Occultation, and reflects much on what I observed. It's great to have it photographically documented by one of us here.

I had planned my time at the Adler Planetarium for this event, and at first upon my arrival, wasn't too sure if I should go ahead with the session. The skies by the lakefront were hazy, and I had a damned time trying to locate the crescent moon. Parked by the Adler, I scanned the skies searching and searching, both with my naked eyes and with binoculars.

Then in an instant, the moon popped into view, quite clear. I then committed myself to observe the Occultation event. With 10 minutes to spare. I rushed into the Adler, signed in and rushed into the telescope storage area. With moments to spare, I didn't want to use a dob, didn't want a refractor...so I grabbed me a 8" s/c, a solar filter and the eyepiece case, and carried it all to my spot.

I set up on the Adler's observation terrace and again searched for the moon, which became elusive once again. Spotting it with one minute to spare, I focused in on it with a 20mm wide angle eyepiece...and there it was...Jupiter just outside of the lit side of the crescent Moon! I thought I was too late as I hesitated setting up. But my decision was greatly rewarded.

It was brighter than I expected, and although the contrast was quite low, the field awash in blue, I could still discern banding on the planet. I watched in amazement as the bright disk slowly got engulfed...bit by bit...and then all of a sudden...it was gone!

I paused for a bit to digest what I just saw. I never observed a daytime Occultation before and thought it quite cool that it actually happened when it did. With Chicago Astronomer Curt's great graphic of the event, I knew exactly where it would hit.

While waiting for the emergence, I put on the solar filter on the aperture of the scope and did me some solar disk watching. A very large group of sunspots were predominate on the surface with two much smaller groupings on each limb. I observed very good outer sunspot shading and some granulation of the surface, as I cycled thru various eyepieces ranging from 25mm down to a 3.6mm. It was a bit windy and chilly where I was set up, and the winds trembled the scope. I returned to a 20mm and left it there for the remainder of the session. I also chatted with Adler visitors, shared views and talked astronomy.

I was so engrossed in a conversation with a visitor than I missed the point of emergence, but caught it as it was entirely leaving the dark side of the Moon. Still a bright disk and showing banding. Some could not see the disk nor the crescent, but I guess they expected high contrasted images in the eyepiece.

I remained for some time after wards showing the public sunspots and chatting about the recent auroras.

It was indeed another moment not to be forgotten for me, as yet another astronomical phenomenon got noticed by the Chicago Astronomer.

And Thanks Al, for sharing your observation and images.

[Al Degutis]

In retrospect, I wish I had the 8" SCT set up. It would have been nice seeing Jupiter visually, especially during the egress at which point the clouds had left.

I really need to get up a pier for a semi-permanent set up. I could have set up on Friday and kept the telescope outside (covered of course) until Tuesday. That way I'd have quicker access for shorter periods. The commander and chief (my wife Judy) has give me preliminary approval to search for a decent location for such a pier. The tough part is finding a location on my wooded property that gives me decent views of the sky AND will meet the commander's final approval.