95 replies to this topic

[John Carlini]

We had clouds in our area but the small breaks in cloud cover allowed me to see the emergence through my spotting scope. It was a nice event and cold despite being overcast.

[evrimi]

Another image taken with my Nikon 800mm lens with 2zx converter, Mars almost fully emerged at the end of the occultation.

 

Evan Miller

Boynton Beach, FL

Attached Thumbnails

• 

[harpo80]

Glad y’all had a great view.  Northeast Florida is still clouded over.  After all here is where weather fronts go to die.  

Same band of clouds got us in coastal Georgia.  Forecast was nip and tuck and it tucked.  I think we cleared a couple hours after egress.

 

Love seeing the pictures and glad the views were excellent elsewhere.  Keep them coming!

[RMay]

Here’s a look at the dreadful weather I was dealing with, and a look at Mars at reappearance. iPhone 15 Pro to the 16mm eyepiece of my Questar 3.5 at 87.5x magnification, unguided.

Ron

Attached Thumbnails

• 
• 

Edited by RMay, 15 January 2025 - 09:45 PM.

[mikemarotta]

I got home in time to set up a chaise and grab my Bushnell 12 x 42 and I timed it with my cellphone. I clocked the occultation from the last sight of Mars starting at 19:52:30 CST from 29d 59m 52s North and 97d 51m 37s West.

 

Thanks,

Mike M.

Edited by mikemarotta, 15 January 2025 - 10:08 PM.

[Dave Mitsky]

Initially, I had trouble getting the ASH Seestar S50 to work properly to catch the reappearance of Mars, but I did manage to capture some images after the occultation.  This is a 1x image that's been cropped and processed using my iPhone's editing functions and Photoshop.

Attached Thumbnails

• 

[Dave Mitsky]

Here's an uncropped 2x image that's also been processed somewhat.

Attached Thumbnails

• 

[Dave Mitsky]

Here's another photo that I took using the Naylor Observatory's 17" classical Cassegrain prior to the occultation.

Attached Thumbnails

• 

[MrSyzygy]

I've had some Cloudy Nights members ask me when's the next lunar occultation of planet.

 

Well, here are all of the upcoming nighttime lunar occultations of planets in the United States (Lower 48) through 2042—excluding events with poor visibility, events with very localized visibility, and events with nearly impossible visibility (occultations with Neptune, Uranus, and Mercury).

 

So, here you go:

 

2026-OCT - Jupiter
2029-OCT - Venus
2031-SEP - Venus
2034-SEP - Jupiter
2036-OCT - Saturn
2036-DEC - Saturn
2037-JAN - Saturn
2037-MAR - Saturn
2037-NOV - Jupiter
2037-DEC - Jupiter
2038-MAY - Jupiter
2038-JUN - Mars
2040-NOV - Saturn
2041-FEB - Jupiter
2041-JUL - Jupiter
2042-FEB - Mars

 

That's it.

 

This is why it's so exciting to catch lunar occultation of planets as they happen because there can be dry spells with nothing!

 

However, lunar occultations of stars are always plentiful!

Information was obtained from the Occult v4.2024 app from the IOTA. http://www.lunar-occ...ota/occult4.htm

[ButterFly]

In the sky.org maintains an occultation list with maps as well.  It's helpful to bookmark it and check it out every so often.  Use the "more" link next to "coming up" to see far into the future.

 

There is a lunar occultation of Mercury coming up for those in Australia, next month, another occultation of Mars in big swaths of Russia next month, an occultation of Venus in Sep for Europe and Northern Africa, ... .

Edited by ButterFly, 17 January 2025 - 08:00 PM.

[ButterFly]

Here's an occultation of Venus from the US in June of 2026.  You don't need night time for that at all, so don't restrict yourself to night only events.

[MrSyzygy]

In the sky.org maintains an occultation list with maps as well.  It's helpful to bookmark it and check it out every so often.  Use the "more" link next to "coming up" to see far into the future.

 

There is a lunar occultation of Mercury coming up for those in Australia, next month, another occultation of Mars in big swaths of Russia next month, an occultation of Venus in Sep for Europe and Northern Africa, ... .

Thanks for giving us a heads-up for those outside the US. Good idea.
 

[MrSyzygy]

Here's an occultation of Venus from the US in June of 2026.  You don't need night time for that at all, so don't restrict yourself to night only events.

Yes, occultations of Jupiter can also be seen in the daytime, but I was limiting my search to only nighttime events since they are more dramatic than daytime events.

[MrSyzygy]

One thing though about in-the-sky.org is that they don't tell you whether a region is in daytime occultation or in nighttime occultation, and their maps don't show it either. At least with IOTA you can get a relatively good idea which it is from their maps.

[ButterFly]

One thing though about in-the-sky.org is that they don't tell you whether a region is in daytime occultation or in nighttime occultation, and their maps don't show it either. At least with IOTA you can get a relatively good idea which it is from their maps.

They give you the time.  You'll know whether it's night or day from there to use with the basic map.  The videos below the basic map show day/night on the Earth.

[SNH]

I've had some Cloudy Nights members ask me when's the next lunar occultation of planet.

 

Well, here are all of the upcoming nighttime lunar occultations of planets in the United States (Lower 48) through 2042—excluding events with poor visibility, events with very localized visibility, and events with nearly impossible visibility (occultations with Neptune, Uranus, and Mercury).

 

So, here you go:

 

2026-OCT - Jupiter
2029-OCT - Venus
2031-SEP - Venus
2034-SEP - Jupiter
2036-OCT - Saturn
2036-DEC - Saturn
2037-JAN - Saturn
2037-MAR - Saturn
2037-NOV - Jupiter
2037-DEC - Jupiter
2038-MAY - Jupiter
2038-JUN - Mars
2040-NOV - Saturn
2041-FEB - Jupiter
2041-JUL - Jupiter
2042-FEB - Mars

 

That's it.

 

This is why it's so exciting to catch lunar occultation of planets as they happen because there can be dry spells with nothing!

 

However, lunar occultations of stars are always plentiful!

Information was obtained from the Occult v4.2024 app from the IOTA. http://www.lunar-occ...ota/occult4.htm

Thanks for that list! I checked and on October 6th, 2026 the Moon will occult Jupiter at 3:15am (CDT) while the planet is only 4.5* up in the east. Yikes, but it should be visible from where I usually set up my telescopes in my backyard. As for the September 28th, 2034 event, it will happen at 6:10am (CDT), which is the beginning of nautical twilight, and be 14.4* up in the west as the Full Moon covers it. Better, but still a little low!

 

Scott H.

[ButterFly]

You get what you get with these things.  This particular occultation was also only about 15 degrees for me at ingress, but still worth it.  When Venus transits Jupiter on 11/22/65, I will definitely be looking, even though it's only about eight degrees from the Sun, unless I'm dead of course.

 

By far, my favorite occultation so far has been with ring closed Saturn last Sept.  The 2039-40 closure doesn't have any good ones, but the '55 one does.  That's worth traveling for to see at its prime.  It's little tiny space orca diving behind the moon.  For Mars and Jupiter, I wouldn't travel very far to see them at all.

 

Grazing events are also worth traveling for, if it's not too far away.  Seeing a star blink in and out from mountains is gorgeous.

[ButterFly]

Anchorage, AK is also a great spot to view Mercury occulting Neptune on 7/15/65.  That's only 15,518 days away, so book your hotels now!

[MrSyzygy]

You get what you get with these things.  This particular occultation was also only about 15 degrees for me at ingress, but still worth it.  When Venus transits Jupiter on 11/22/65, I will definitely be looking, even though it's only about eight degrees from the Sun, unless I'm dead of course.

 

By far, my favorite occultation so far has been with ring closed Saturn last Sept.  The 2039-40 closure doesn't have any good ones, but the '55 one does.  That's worth traveling for to see at its prime.  It's little tiny space orca diving behind the moon.  For Mars and Jupiter, I wouldn't travel very far to see them at all.

 

Grazing events are also worth traveling for, if it's not too far away.  Seeing a star blink in and out from mountains is gorgeous.

You're talking about some seriously rare stuff: planet-planet occultations! That's like two pinpoints meeting in the sky! Now that would be something to see.

 

And I agree that traveling to see a star blink is totally worth the effort.
 

[ButterFly]

The Mecury-Neptune occultation in particular is ridiculously low!!!  Hopefully, by then, we'll have space access as ordinary people.  That might be easier than getting to a better placed remote part of Alaska.

[Scott Beith]

I promised I would be back.  Handheld with a DSLR.  Nothing impressive but it was worth making the effort.  Mars is at about 6:30 at the edge of the Moon.

 

 

 

 

Attached Thumbnails

• 
•