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[Centaur]

The nearly Full Moon will occult stars in the Pleiades cluster (M45) during the evening of 2006 DEC 03 for observers in North America. The 99% illumination is far from ideal, but it will be the last opportunity for those of us in Chicagoland to view a Pleiades occultation for many months. Immersions will occur on the dark limb and emersions on the bright 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 two maps of North America showing the graze paths of the 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. All three images can be viewed by going to:

EDIT: Since the event is past, the graphic has been removed.

Six of the 21 brightest Pleiades stars will be occulted for Chicagoland observers. Below are my calculations for the 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 CST. 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 03:47:55.3 Dec 24°07’46”
CST 20:14:16 ZA 157.8° Immersion
CST 21:07:44 ZA 247.4° Emersion

#3 Mag 3.7 Electra
RA 03:45:18.7 Dec 24°08’17”
CST 19:03:04 ZA 102.9° Immersion
CST 20:05:47 ZA 313.3° Emersion

#4 Mag 3.9 Maia
RA 03:46:15.9 Dec 24°23’33”
CST 19:50:19 ZA 065.8° Immersion
CST 20:32:20 ZA 346.5° Emersion

#5 Mag 4.2 Merope
RA 03:46:45.8 Dec 25°58’22”
CST 19:40:29 ZA 168.9° Immersion
CST 20:23:25 ZA 244.5° Emersion

#10 Mag 5.4 Celaeno
RA 03:45:14.5 Dec 24°18’51”
CST 19:26:25 ZA 055.5° Immersion
CST 19:55:56 ZA 000.9° Emersion

#17 Mag 6.3 24 Tauri
RA 03:47:47.3 Dec 24°08’26”
CST 20:09:06 ZA 152.1° Immersion
CST 21:07:03 ZA 253.6° Emersion

[Centaur]

Last night from Arlington Heights the Moon was quite visible through a thin layer of clouds. However, the diffused light from the nearly full Moon made it impossible to see the stars. Considering the extreme cold, perhaps that was fortunate.

Those in the far western US and Canada will have another opportunity to witness a Pleiades occultation on 2006 DEC 31. Graphics for last night's event have been removed from my website, having been replaced by upcoming marvels.

The next occultation of a fairly bright star for those in the region of Chicago will be that of Mag 2.9 Delta Capricornii during the evening of 2007 JAN 20. However, if you plan to be in Greenland on 2006 DEC 10, there will be an occultation of Saturn. The coming occultation series for Saturn will last from this month through 2007 OCT 07, but Chicagoland will be shut out.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Curt,

I attempted to observe the occultation, and here in Chicago it was quite clear, but oh so cold. I went out with binoculars in hand, but the winds just cut thru you, and I could not tolerate it. I was dissapointed that I could not see the stars blink out.

I say that cold weather astronomer is the folly of youth.

Thanks for the detailed data you provided for the M45 event...