March 7, 2005

One Good Occultation Deserves Another

Image Credit: John Robinson and Arthur Coombs

One Good Occultation Deserves Another John Robinson and Arthur Coombs, the hard-observing duo who are the only people to have imaged all the Lunar 100, made this great record of the Feb 27 occultation of Jupiter by the Moon. This was the second of three opportunities in Australia to see Jupiter skirt behind the Moon this fall (southern hemisphere Jan-Mar – therefore fall). Because Jupiter just skimmed the edge of the lunar north pole, the eclipse was short – only about 20 minutes. I (CAW) have enhanced the images of Jupiter to make a more dramatic image, but include an original image of Jupiter in the bottom left corner to show how much fainter Jupiter is than the Moon. I am surprised by its faintness – Jupiter was brighter in images of its occultation on Dec. 7, 2004, but perhaps the differences are just due to exposures dictated by the phase of the Moon at the occultation points. On Dec. 7, the terminator was at the limb where Jupiter grazed, but on Feb 27 the limb of the 18 day old Moon was near full. — Chuck Wood Technical Details: 27th February 2005; 11.46 UT; Heidelberg, Melbourne, Australia. 8" Newtonian + Phillips ToUcam Pro; Registax V3. Mosaic: Merged 4-minute intervals in Photoshop. Related Links: Three "Down Under" Occultations of Jupiter Yesterday's LPOD: A Single Twin Tomorrow's LPOD: Foundering in a Sea of Indecipherable Details?

Author & Editor: Charles A. Wood

 

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