occultation

[N1 (Mirko)]

Tried to observe from South Canterbury with the 60mm refractor - no luck. Contrast way, way too low, as was the moon itself. Agree with Tony - just about impossible to observe during the day without major equipmentation. I take my hat off to those who managed to get an image, or even a glimpse with the sun up.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by axle01

Looking at this site it looks like we won't be able to see it here in Townsville in May.

http://www.lunar-occultations.com/io...0514saturn.htm

With a quick approximation in CdC I'd say the line through Middlemount and Gladstone gets a graze, so you'd need to be south of that. Quite a drive.

[axle01 (Alan)]

Originally Posted by mithrandir

With a quick approximation in CdC I'd say the line through Middlemount and Gladstone gets a graze, so you'd need to be south of that. Quite a drive.

Yeah just what I thought and I think it is a Wednesday evening so looks like I will miss it again.

Alan

[doppler (Rick)]

I am in Mackay so a graze will be fine with me... hopefully in the same field of view of my 8" f6

Cheers Rick

[OzEclipse (Joe Cali)]

Originally Posted by axle01

Yeah just what I thought and I think it is a Wednesday evening so looks like I will miss it again.

Alan

Alan,

Don't worry, Townsville will get a great view of the Saturn occulatation on August 4. Rings begin disappearing behind a dark limb at 1108UT.

Joe

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by doppler

I am in Mackay so a graze will be fine with me... hopefully in the same field of view of my 8" f6

CdC says for Mackay it's a miss by a bit less than 3 arcmin.

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by tonybarry

Hi Suzy,

The 10" would have done the job if the sky was clear and without glare (= thin cloud). The situation is an extreme example of light pollution, and aperture is a known mitigant of light pollution. A red filter or an IR-pass filter (for a camera) would have made it better.

Colin Legg's excellent Vimeo movie shows what can be done, if the clouds co-operate. Thanks Suzy for posting the link

As it was, we were pretty well outgunned by the weather, but there's always a next time. For us here in Sydney, that's 14th May at about 9pm.

Regards,
Tony Barry

Ah, I see. Many thanks Tony for the explanation. I'm so happy to hear that I have hope yet. I have a red filter so I'll take your advice and give it a try.