lunar occultation & io transit tonight

albertw

At 2.12am on the morning of Wednesday 14th January the Moon will pass in
from of the bright star Porrima in the constellation of Virgo. The star will disappear behind
the bright limb of the Moon so it may be difficult to see, however at 2.57 am the star will reappear from behind the dark limb of the moon. This event will be visible all across Ireland possibly without the need for binoculars and although the times will
vary slightly across the country they should not be more than 5 minutes out anywhere.

This event is special as it is the brightest star that will be occulted by the Moon in 2004.

As John Flannery pointed out to me, Porrima is a close double so you may see a stepped reappearance.

Cheers,
~Al

(Data swiped from the BAA almanic)
_________________
Irish Astronomical Society

And while you're waiting for Porrima to reappear, you can watch Io and it's shadow transit the face of Jupiter! The transit of Io itself starts at 00.37, and ends at 02.50; the shadow transit starts at 23.37 and ends at 01.51. Jupiter will be about 21 degrees along the ecliptic from the moon. All this should make for an interesting night's viewing, if the weather holds.
_________________
Paul South Dublin Astro. Soc.

albertw

Originally posted by albertw
This event is special as it is the brightest star that will be occulted by the Moon in 2004.

ok looks like that isnt true, delta-Sco next month is brighter.