Observers in the British Isles with an unobscured view of the southwest horizon should direct their telescopes at the setting 4-day-old crescent Moon by 7:40pm, for if skies are clear you may get a chance to see magnitude +3.9 star gamma (γ) Librae (aka Zuben Elakrab in Arabic) slip behind the darkened lunar hemisphere. The time at which this occultation occurs is just before 7:55pm in London, or 7:45pm in Edinburgh (all times quoted in this article are in British Summer Time). AN graphic by Ade Ashford/Stellarium.A waxing crescent Moon sliding serenely toward the horizon in evening twilight is always a pleasant sight to behold, but observers in the UK watching the 4-day-old Moon through a telescope around 40 minutes after sunset on Sunday, 24 September have an additional treat in store. The lunar crescent lies in the zodiacal constellation of Libra (the Scales) and passes in front of naked-eye star gamma (γ) Librae, also known by its Arabic name of Zuben Elakrab, soon after 7:45pm BST — though the precise time depends on where you live in the British Isles.
For observers in the London area, the magnitude +3.9 star winks out behind the darkened lunar hemisphere shortly before 7:55pm, while skywatchers closer to Edinburgh will see the occultation occur at 7:45pm BST. For observers nearer the centre of the British Isles, the event happens close to 7:49pm when the 20 percent illuminated Moon lies just 9 degrees — barely the span of a fist held at arm’s length — above the southwest horizon.
Gamma Librae lies about 160 light-years from Earth. Interestingly, it is also a double star, though its magnitude +11 companion some 42½ arcseconds distant will not be visible owing to the glare from the adjacent Moon and atmospheric extinction so close to the horizon. Furthermore, the star’s reappearance at the bright lunar limb close to 8:55pm BST is unlikely to be seen so close to moonset.
On the night of 19—20 January, the 10-day-old waxing gibbous Moon glides in front of the loose open star cluster known as the Hyades that represent the bull’s head in the constellation of Taurus, culminating in the occultation of bright star Aldebaran an hour or so before moonset for observers in the British Isles.
The Israeli Beresheet lander, while braking into orbit around the Moon 4 April, beamed back stunning views of lunar farside, giving a hint of what to expect after landing 11 April.
On the night of 4-5 March 2017, UK observers with clear skies can see an occultation bonanza as the 6-day-old waxing crescent Moon passes in front of prominent members of the Hyades open cluster in Taurus. Some hours later, after the Moon has set in the British Isles, first-magnitude star Aldebaran is occulted across a large swathe of North America.
