Pleiades Occultation

 

Our next chance to see the moon occult the Pleiades will be on Monday night, Oct 10. The Moon will be bright (86% sunlit), but four of the brightest stars in the cluster will be occulted. The passage of the moon in front of the cluster will start at about 11 PM and continue until 3 AM (the brightest members of the cluster will re-appear by 1 AM). The stars will disappear on the bright limb and reappear on the dark limb.

 

Members who want to record their observations should use an audio tape recorder and short wave receiver capable of receiving signals from WWV radio at 2.5, 5, 10, 15, or 20 mHz. The brighter occultations may be recorded on video by putting time signals on the sound track. Note: this only works with VHS tape, the compact tape puts a time delay between the audio and video signals.

 

The predictions below are for the MAS observatory. The time (h m s) is in UT. A d means a disappearance on the dark limb, r means reappearance. The last four columns are aids to locate the star on the limb of the moon. The cusp angle (CA) is the angle from the cusp (North or South) to the star. A positive number is into the dark limb, negative means bright limb. The Position angle (PA) is measured from celestial north CCW around the moon (useful for equatorial mounts). Vertex angle (VA) is similar but measured from the zenith useful for alt-az mounts). Finally the watts angle (WA) is measured from lunar north (also CCW).

 

Because this event takes place early on a weekday, there will be no organized effort. If you are able to observe this event, keep in mind that the predictions below are for the MAS Observatory. If you observe from another location, time times and cusp angles will vary greatly.

 

 

Occultation Predictions for c-occ026 MAS in October 2006

E.Long. - 88  8 54.4   Lat.  42 58  7.7   Alt. 294m.  

 

      day  Time   P   Star  Sp  Mag    % Elon Sun  Moon   CA   PA  VA  WA  

 y  m  d  h  m  s      No  D       V  ill     Alt Alt Az   o    o   o   o  

06 10 10  3 51 42 r   76103cA9  7.9s  87- 137     32  86  18S 181 234 193

06 10 10  3 57 46 D     537SB6  3.7s  87- 137     33  86 -69N  52 105  64

06 10 10  4 36  5 D     545 B6  4.1v  87- 137     40  93 -42S 121 175 134

06 10 10  4 40 52 D     541cB8  3.9   87- 137     41  93 -35N  18  71  30

06 10 10  4 51 12 R     536cB7  5.5   86- 137     43  96  41N 302 355 314

06 10 10  4 57 52 R     537SB6  3.7s  86- 137     44  97  85N 258 311 270

06 10 10  5  7 23 D     552SB7  2.9   86- 137     45  98 -52S 111 164 124

06 10 10  5  7 37 r   76145 A3  8.1   86- 137     46  99  69S 232 284 244

06 10 10  5 11 28 R     545 B6  4.1   86- 137     46 100  26S 189 241 201

06 10 10  5 16 52 r   76158 A0  7.9   86- 137     47 101  60S 223 275 235

06 10 10  5 19 27 R   76152cB9  7.2   86- 137     48 101  54N 289 341 301

06 10 10  5 24 49 R     541cB8  3.9   86- 137     49 102  51N 292 344 304

06 10 10  5 36 47 r   76167SK2  7.6   86- 137     51 105  83S 246 297 258

06 10 10  5 37 24 r   76169MA3  8.1   86- 137     51 105  81S 244 295 256

06 10 10  5 45 21 R     546cA0  7.3   86- 136     52 107  90S 253 303 265

06 10 10  5 53 24 R     549SA0  6.3   86- 136     54 108  42S 205 255 217

06 10 10  5 53 29 R     552SB7  2.9   86- 136     54 108  35S 198 248 210

06 10 10  5 56  8 r   76191MA7  8.2   86- 136     54 109  48S 211 260 223

06 10 10  5 59  4 R     548cB9  6.8   86- 136     55 109  43N 300 349 312

06 10 10  6  8 43 r   76194 A0  7.7   86- 136     56 112  34N 309 358 321

06 10 10  6 14 22 R     553cA0  6.8   86- 136     57 114  75S 238 285 250

06 10 10  6 34 39 r   76210cA3  8.2   86- 136     60 120  65S 228 273 240

06 10 10  6 41  0 r   76237 A0  8.0   86- 136     61 122  12S 175 218 187

06 10 10  6 43 40 R     557cA1  7.0   86- 136     62 123  65S 228 271 240

06 10 10  7  6 54 R   76234SA0  7.5   86- 136     65 132  59S 222 259 234

06 10 10  7  6 59 R     562SB9  6.6   86- 136     65 132  54S 217 254 229

06 10 10  7 12  6 r   76249 A0  7.5   86- 136     66 134  31S 194 230 206

06 10 10  7 45 37 R   76259cA2  7.4   86- 136     69 151  55S 218 241 230

06 10 10 10 40 54 r   76319 A2  8.4   85- 135     58 247  72N 272 224 283

06 10 10 11 43 46 r   76345 G8  7.5   85- 134  -4 48 261  54N 289 236 301

 

 

 

 

The position of the Moon at about 6.5h UT (1:30AM CDT) on Oct 10