occultation – Astronomy Now

Watch as the Moon hides Saturn

20 August 2024 Mark Armstrong

Let’s hope for some clear skies on the morning of 21 August, so we can observe the beautiful ringed planet Saturn being occulted by the Moon.

Mars comes to opposition and is occulted by the Moon!

5 December 2022 Mark Armstrong

The long-awaited opposition of Mars on 8 December is a great way to put the icing on top of another great observing year.

Uranus occulted by the Moon

4 December 2022 Mark Armstrong

A pretty rare observational event visible across the whole of the UK, a planet occulted by the Moon, occurs on the early-evening of 5 December when the Moon moves over Uranus.

Star Epsilon (ε) Tauri plays hide and seek with the crescent Moon on 29 March

19 March 2020 Ade Ashford

On Sunday, 29 March around civil dusk, observers throughout the British Isles with suitably steadied binoculars and small telescopes can watch naked-eye star Epsilon (ε) Tauri disappear behind the darkened hemisphere of the almost 5-day-old waxing crescent Moon, reappearing again slightly more than an hour later. Here’s our where and when guide to viewing it.

Watch asteroid (4) Vesta hide a naked-eye star in Aries on 11 February

30 January 2020 Ade Ashford

Latest predictions indicate that second-largest asteroid (4) Vesta will pass in front of magnitude +5.3 star HIP 14439 in the constellation of Aries close to 10:02pm GMT (22:02 UT) on Tuesday, 11 February 2020, a binocular event visible from the north of England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

See the Moon buzz the Beehive Cluster in the small hours of 12 January

9 January 2020 Ade Ashford

Observers in the UK with a clear sky high to the south-southeast shortly after midnight on Sunday, 12 January 2020 can see the 16-day-old waning gibbous Moon just three-quarters of a degree north of the beautiful open star cluster Messier 44, otherwise known as Praesepe, or the Beehive Cluster.

Will you see the Moon hide naked-eye star Eta (η) Geminorum on 15 November?

13 November 2019 Ade Ashford

Lucky observers with clear skies who also happen to live on a line drawn between Porthcawl on the Welsh coast through just south of Birmingham and on to the Lincolnshire Wolds can witness a grazing lunar occultation of naked-eye star Eta (η) Geminorum by the rising 18-day-old waning gibbous Moon just before 10pm GMT on 15 November 2019.

See the Moon hide a trio of Hyades stars at dawn on 24 August

20 August 2019 Ade Ashford

Have you ever seen the Moon hide a star? If you’re an early riser in the UK with a small telescope on Saturday, 24 August 2019 then you can potentially witness the disappearance and reappearance of three naked-eye stars in the Hyades open star cluster of Taurus between 3:40am BST and shortly after sunrise.

Further Jupiter events for UK observers in July 2019

28 June 2019 Ade Ashford

July opens with Jupiter three weeks after opposition, but the largest planet is still putting on a fine show as an unmistakable magnitude -2.6 object low in the south before midnight in the constellation of Ophiuchus (the Serpent Bearer). With ongoing developments in the Jupiter’s Great Red Spot and plenty of phenomena occurring with the planet’s large Galilean moons, here’s our Jovian observing guide for July 2019.

Get ready for prime-time Jupiter and its multi-moon events in June 2019

30 May 2019 Ade Ashford

Jupiter, the solar system’s largest planet, reaches opposition on 10 June in the constellation of Ophiuchus (the Serpent Bearer) and is visible low in the southern sky of the UK through the night. Observers with small to medium aperture telescopes can see a number of shadow transits of Jupiter’s Galilean moons and view the planet’s Great Red Spot throughout June.