Post by Centaur on Sept 14, 2006 11:17:20 GMT -6
The 86% illuminated waning gibbous Moon will occult stars in the Pleiades cluster (M45) during the night of 2006 OCT 09/10 for observers in the Americas. Immersions will occur on the bright limb and emersions on the dark limb. Grazes can be seen by those located on the narrow (2-3 km) paths. During a graze one can witness a star winking on and off as lunar hills and valleys sweep by.
Your photos, drawings or descriptions of the event will be welcome additions to this thread. For predictions applicable to your location, please feel free to reply within this thread with your latitude, longitude, altitude and time zone.
I’ve created a map of the Americas showing the graze paths of the seven brightest Pleiades stars. I’ve also drawn a graphic previewing the event as seen from Chicago at the time when Alcyone will be most deeply occulted. Both images can be viewed by going to:
www.curtrenz.com/astronomical.html
Of the 21 Pleiades stars no dimmer than sixth magnitude, 18 will be occulted. But fewer occultations will be observed at specific locations. Six will be seen from Chicago.
Below are my calculations for occulted stars in order of brightness for an observer at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, W 87°36’24”, N 41°51’59”, alt 180 m. The stars’ coordinates are for the date of the event (not 2000.0). Times are CDT. The Zenith Angle (ZA) is the location of the star on the lunar limb measured counter-clockwise from the zenith.
#1 Mag 2.9 Alcyone
RA 03:47:54.4 Dec 24°07’43”
CDT 00:07:58 ZA 169.9° Immersion
CDT 00:49:55 ZA 244.4° Emersion
#3 Mag 3.7 Electra
RA 03:45:17.8 Dec 24°08’14”
CDT 22:55:47 ZA 109.2° Immersion
CDT 23:56:43 ZA 309.2° Emersion
#4 Mag 3.9 Maia
RA 03:46:14.9 Dec 24°23’29”
CDT 23:37:40 ZA 076.4° Immersion
CDT 00:25:18 ZA 340.6° Emersion
#5 Mag 4.2 Merope
RA 03:46:44.8 Dec 25°58’19”
CDT 23:37:09 ZA 181.4° Immersion
CDT 00:07:04 ZA 236.3° Emersion
#10 Mag 5.4 Celaeno
RA 03:45:13.5 Dec 24°18’48”
CDT 23:13:32 ZA 067.5° Immersion
CDT 23:51:59 ZA 351.2° Emersion
#17 Mag 6.3 24 Tauri
RA 03:47:46.3 Dec 24°08’23”
CDT 00:02:11 ZA 162.9° Immersion
CDT 00:50:17 ZA 251.6° Emersion
Your photos, drawings or descriptions of the event will be welcome additions to this thread. For predictions applicable to your location, please feel free to reply within this thread with your latitude, longitude, altitude and time zone.
I’ve created a map of the Americas showing the graze paths of the seven brightest Pleiades stars. I’ve also drawn a graphic previewing the event as seen from Chicago at the time when Alcyone will be most deeply occulted. Both images can be viewed by going to:
www.curtrenz.com/astronomical.html
Of the 21 Pleiades stars no dimmer than sixth magnitude, 18 will be occulted. But fewer occultations will be observed at specific locations. Six will be seen from Chicago.
Below are my calculations for occulted stars in order of brightness for an observer at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, W 87°36’24”, N 41°51’59”, alt 180 m. The stars’ coordinates are for the date of the event (not 2000.0). Times are CDT. The Zenith Angle (ZA) is the location of the star on the lunar limb measured counter-clockwise from the zenith.
#1 Mag 2.9 Alcyone
RA 03:47:54.4 Dec 24°07’43”
CDT 00:07:58 ZA 169.9° Immersion
CDT 00:49:55 ZA 244.4° Emersion
#3 Mag 3.7 Electra
RA 03:45:17.8 Dec 24°08’14”
CDT 22:55:47 ZA 109.2° Immersion
CDT 23:56:43 ZA 309.2° Emersion
#4 Mag 3.9 Maia
RA 03:46:14.9 Dec 24°23’29”
CDT 23:37:40 ZA 076.4° Immersion
CDT 00:25:18 ZA 340.6° Emersion
#5 Mag 4.2 Merope
RA 03:46:44.8 Dec 25°58’19”
CDT 23:37:09 ZA 181.4° Immersion
CDT 00:07:04 ZA 236.3° Emersion
#10 Mag 5.4 Celaeno
RA 03:45:13.5 Dec 24°18’48”
CDT 23:13:32 ZA 067.5° Immersion
CDT 23:51:59 ZA 351.2° Emersion
#17 Mag 6.3 24 Tauri
RA 03:47:46.3 Dec 24°08’23”
CDT 00:02:11 ZA 162.9° Immersion
CDT 00:50:17 ZA 251.6° Emersion