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[Centaur]

A waxing gibbous Moon will occult (cover) magnitude +0.9 star Antares in Scorpius for observers in much of North America during the evening of 2023 AUG 24. This is the start of a new monthly series that will last until August 2028. The previous series was in 2005-2010. As always, each occultation will only be observable in a specifically defined region.

This month’s immersion will occur on the lunar dark limb, with emersion from the bright limb. Lucky observers on the graze path can witness the star passing through lunar hills and valleys. Those north of the only graze path will see a full occultation.

I’ve created a graze map and for computer input a set of Besselian elements. Also, a preview graphic with data for observers at Chicago’s Alder Planetarium. They can be seen by visiting my Occultations webpage at www.CurtRenz.com/occultations.html

Photos and descriptions of the occultation would be welcome additions to this thread. If you would like specific occultation or graze predictions for your location, please reply to this post with your longitude, latitude, elevation and time zone.

[Centaur]

Aug 19, 2023 13:38:22 GMT -6 Centaur said:

A waxing gibbous Moon will occult (cover) magnitude +0.9 star Antares in Scorpius for observers in much of North America during the evening of 2023 AUG 24. This is the start of a new monthly series that will last until August 2028. The previous series was in 2005-2010. As always, each occultation will only be observable in a specifically defined region.

This month’s immersion will occur on the lunar dark limb, with emersion from the bright limb. Lucky observers on the graze path can witness the star passing through lunar hills and valleys. Those north of the only graze path will see a full occultation.

I’ve created a graze map and for computer input a set of Besselian elements. Also, a preview graphic with data for observers at Chicago’s Alder Planetarium. They can be seen by visiting my Occultations webpage at www.CurtRenz.com/occultations.html

Photos and descriptions of the occultation would be welcome additions to this thread. If you would like specific occultation or graze predictions for your location, please reply to this post with your longitude, latitude, elevation and time zone.

For observers at the Adler Planetarium, I predict the following for the occultation:
Immersion - 21:29:41 CDT
Emersion - 22:33:07 CDT

For observers in Horner Park:
Immersion - 21:29:22 CDT
Emersion - 22:32:58 CDT

For observers in Harrison Park:
Immersion - 21:29:35 CDT
Emersion - 22:33:04 CDT

These timings are from my own self-written software based on a Jean Meeus occultation algorithm, SIMBAD star data and Solex lunar numerical integration.

The timings should be somewhat similar throughout Chicagoland.

A report of your location and timings would be much appreciated, in order to verify my calculations.