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[Centaur]

I’ve determined that tonight (early morning November 9) there will be a partial occultation of Jupiter's Galilean satellite #4 Callisto by the larger #3 Ganymede, i.e. the apparent disk of Ganymede will appear to cover 19% of the diameter of Callisto. Their centers will appear closest to each other at 09:30:43 UT (03:30:43 CST) on 2014 NOV 09.

I’ve created preview graphics and a timetable for the event. They can be seen at: www.CurtRenz.com/jupiter

If older data appears on your screen, I suggest refreshing/reloading the webpage.

Photos and descriptions of the event would be welcome additions to this thread.

[Paulie pchris00]

The sky and forecast are looking iffy at the moment, but I'm going to try to observe this.

[Paulie pchris00]

While not perfect by any means, sky conditions improved enough that I was able to observe this visually, though the poor transparency and seeing conditions limited attempts to try to photograph the occultation. I was at Conway Observatory, so initially I observed with the 16" LX200. Throwing so much power at the Jovian system in bad seeing, it was hard to keep the system in focus, so I ended up mostly observing with my 6" Dob, using less magnification. After I gave up trying to image the occultation, I went up and down, back and forth between the two telescopes, and since I wasn't getting especially clear views, decided not to even try to time the moments of contact, or maximum occultation.

Even though conditions weren't good, it was nice to spend some observing time with the Jovian system, and I greatly appreciate Curt alerting us to these events. Maybe I'll get a better observation of a Jovian system event soon.

[Centaur]

Excellent, Paulie. Thank you for your fine description of the event and sharing your nice photos. The next similar event for Chicagolanders will be #4 Callisto partially occulting #2 Europa during the 1 o'clock hour on the morning of Saturday, December 6: www.CurtRenz.com/jupiter