Posted by Davin Flateau on 31 Mar 2006 at 10:20 am.
Filed under Astronomy.
No foolin - tomorrow night, April 1, the thin, beautiful crescent moon will slowly move in front of the bright fuzzy star cluster The Pleiades. The event will be visible for most of the eastern part of the U.S. during dusk, and extreme eastern Kansas including Kansas City should get to see a few stars duck behind the moon, as it hangs like a bowl in the western sky against the last glows of the day. The event will be visible with the unaided eye, but binoculars and/or telescopes are the tool of choice.
Sky and Telescope magazine has a great guide to the event.
The Moon moves by about the width of its own diameter per hour against the background stars. So the occulted star reappears out from behind the Moon’s other, sunlit edge up to an hour or so after disappearing. But the reappearances are much harder to see, since they happen in the bright glare of the Moon’s daylit side. For these you really need a good telescope.
Space.com also has the celestial hide and seek covered.
The Moon will be about one-third of the way up from the western horizon and will remain in view for roughly 3½ hours after sunset until it finally sets. During that interval, observers will be able to watch as the Moon’s dark limb gradually approaches one star after another; the stars will appear to suddenly “pop-off” as if someone threw a switch. The stars will reappear from behind the bright lunar crescent about an hour later.
Unfortunately, those who live from the Plains States and Prairie Provinces of Canada and all points west will miss out on the occultation, as the Moon will have already moved past the Pleiades by the time darkness has fallen for these regions. Nonetheless, the view in binoculars of the crescent Moon sitting just above and to the left of the star cluster will still make for a very pretty sight.
Shashwee on 3 Apr 2006 at 10:38 am: 1
That’s a spectacular picture! It made my day.