Moon occults Uranus - tomorrow night!

[iceman]

A great occultation event coming up tomorrow night/Friday morning.

Check out the details for your location in the calendar events on the left:

WA: Tomorrow night 9pm (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/calendar/calendar.php?mode=view&id=90)

Other states: Friday morning just after midnight (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/calendar/calendar.php?mode=view&id=89)

It will be my first opportunity to catch a good occultation on camera, but the weather report is looking NOT GOOD! :( :( So i'll be relying on you guys to get some nice images!

I have to hope for a break in the clouds between 12am and 2am Friday morning!

[rogerg]

This would be a challenging event for photography - the magnitude difference between the moon and Uranus is so extreme it'd be quite difficult. Probably have to be composite shots of shorter and longer exposures. I'll be interested to see what results people get. My scope's not setup for webcam at the moment so will be skipping it.

Roger.

[Astroman]

Also later in the morning there is a partial lunar eclipse so being a FULL moon any sort of photography would be difficult. Still its possible but I think most images will show the moon very washed out in brightness.

[iceman]

I agree that a composite will be required, but you only need 15 seconds of each (@ 30fps) to get enough frames to show the occultation.

15 seconds @ 1/500s or so for the moon, 15 seconds @ 1/30fps for Uranus.

[DaveGee]

for SydneySiders... WinOccult says...
=================================== ====
day Time P Star Sp Mag % Elon Sun Moon CA PA
06 09 07 14 34 13 d Uranus 5.7 100+ 177 62 335 52S 89

06 09 07 15 29 6 r Uranus 5.7 100+ 178 55 312 -47S 189
=================================== ====

DON'T mention the weather! grr
and 3 1/2 hrs later, the eclipse !!!! grr grr

Regards
DaveGee

[janoskiss]

Oooh, this would be a good one for my new Mak + tracking mount. Weather is not looking favourable though. :(

[rmcpb]

Weather will stop it for us here I'm afraid :(

We just live in hope and frustration, we need the rain but its such a busy night astronomically speaking. Besides, I bet we just get the clouds and wind and not much rain.............

[davidpretorius]

will give it a go!

no jetstream here at the moment

[AstroBug]

Thanks for the heads up. I won't be imaging but I've never seen Uranus through the eyepiece. Hopefully there will be a break in the clouds tonight.

[ving]

going to be hard to image it while i am laying on it.... oh that one! :ashamed:

:P

[AstroJunk]

It's crystal clear, I'm staying up even though I have a MASSIVE meeting in the morning and I'm waiting for a six second show.

"I'm sorry boss, but I stuffed up the meeting with the CEO 'cos I was up late watching Uranus disappear behind the moon."

"That's ok, I fully understand, have a pay rise"

dream on ... :screwy:

[Dennis]

Well, Uranus is still 41 arc min from the Moon's limb and my ST7E ccd is washed out with glare from the Moon. Completely overwhelms Uranus with scattered light. No images from me for this event, although I will stay up for the penumbral eclipse and try to bag a couple of snaps.

Cheers

Dennis

[h0ughy]

Thats exactly how I would do it too:lol: . Best of luck whoever can get this. full cloud cover now over newcastle - so I would say mike is not going to be imaging:P :D

[h0ughy]

Due to flat batteries i will unfortunately be using the Canon 350D, with the el cheapo 300mm zoom lens. I feel naked without my trusty Pentax and 50-500 lens and a 2 times converter:sadeyes:

[WadeH]

Is all of Australia against us tonight! Here we presantly have heavy cloud cover, rain periods and 80 km/hr winds to boot (non stop for the last three days would you believe). AAAAH !!!

[AstroJunk]

Personal observing report - it was there, then it wasn't! It was even quicker than I expected - but it crossed of the last event on the "what haven't you seen" poll!

G'night ...

[Chrissyo]

I managed to glimpse it too! There one minute, gone the next! I'm not gonna stay up for the eclipse cause the moon will be way behind the trees :( Another time perhaps!:thumbsup:

[Dennis]

Here's a composite image made from 2 avi's and single frames from each overlayed to show the "best" of both worlds.

Cheers

Dennis

[jjjnettie]

Wow! It was great wasn't it!
I knew someone would take the time to get some pics. Thanks Dennis.
It was in the back of my mind that the moonglare would drown out Uranus but you could see it as a pale blue disc up to the end.
Good stuff.

[Astroman]

quick send it tospace weather or APOD or LPOD or S7S or AS&T or all of the above, great image Dennis.

[glenc]

It was difficult to see Herschel's planet because the moon was so bright and it vanished very suddenly. Why did they call it U?
It must have been hard to image. Well done Dennis!

[iceman]

Excellent image Dennis, stunning result!

I know you've probably already sent that to LPOD/SpaceWeather - i'm sure they'll use it.

Well done!

I got nothing but clouds, so didn't even get a chance to get anything.

[Dennis]

Thanks for the nice comments guys - it was a bugga of a shoot! I haven't e-mailed a copy to any website yet; too tired and just finishing off the partial lunar eclipse animation before going outside to either pack up or do the hard yards and grab some sun spot action.


Cheers

Dennis

[iceman]

Send it in Dennis! The sun's not up high enough for a few hours :)

[[1ponders]]

Glad you got something for your efforts Dennis. Especially considering the wind here last night. We clocked gust here up to 113 kph, just before dawn (04:00 ). :eyepop: 85 kph gusts just before midnight. Dead calm now :screwy: