Regulus Vs the Moon

[Kunama]

The last local Regulus occultation by the Moon for my lifetime will occur tomorrow, Thursday at approximately 2011hrs Regulus will disappear behind the dark limb of the Moon with a reappearance around 2130hrs.

[LewisM]

As Vulcans say, Live Long and Prosper.

Don't sign your death certificate yet Matt :)

Let's hope the Cloud Gods agree tomorrow. Luna was spectacular last night - I watched it set to the left of Telstra Tower and it was stunning.

[DaveGee]

[QUOTE=Kunama;1308739 The last local Regulus occultation by the Moon for my lifetime will occur tomorrow QUOTE]

Gee how old are you?

You've just got to survive to 2045 May 23 (see below) when we'll have a northern limb graze of Regulus for the Sydney/Canberra crew. That will be spectacular!

Let's see, that's 28 years time, and I'm 60, so that'll make me 88, and that is well short of the use-by-date stamped on my bum.:rofl:

[LewisM]

Matt has the same Best By date :)

Heck I will only be 70...if I make it that far

[grimsay]

Not looking good here :( hopping for a break in the weather.
Maybe next time around.

[LewisM]

Perfect here...almost at the shadow limb

[Nab]

8:06 on the iPhone.. sorry no better timing, but gone in Ballarat. Seen through light high cloud.

[Octane]

Guess I'll have to wait until 2045. Overcast in southern Canberra.

H

[grimsay]

Ha, nailed the disappearance with a brief gap in the clouds.

[LewisM]

Nailed it! Gone in a flash! My first occultation! BEAUTIFUL.

No clouds this side of Southern Canberra H. You could have come around :)

[tonybarry]

Penrith - clouds. Alas. I need to live to 86 to see the next one. I will probably need to work till 86 too. Then ... well, we'll see.

Regards,
Tony Barry
WSAAG

[38degsouth]

Clear skies here in Melb. My partner, our 4yo boy and myself all at our eyepieces waiting in anticipation, and all three of us saw it. Good family stuff! The fourth 'scope was for video recording/time stamping. Regards, Dean.

[doppler]

Mostly clear here in Mackay. Clouds rolled in just before reappearance but still managed a couple of pics. Just finished packing up and down came the rain.

[jbdave]

I am new to all this, and wasn't even aware this was happening tonight.
That said, I did take a couple of shots of the moon...

[Morgenstern]

Observed the disappearance from my backyard using SW Dob 10" at around 8:08pm, my first occultation.

[astro744]

Grazing occultations are much more fun and scientifically useful if done right but you have to be prepared for a drive to position yourself in the right path. It's been a very long time since I did my last one but I still remember it as if it was yesterday. The star was Antares and it was -8 deg at 1am in Bomballa, NSW and the whole event only took about a minute or so plus the 6 hour round trip including time to find the correct site for this particular graze for me. Multiple observers are best, the more the better as this enables a closer spacing which determines the resolution of the data. Observers are spaced at approx equal distances along the path such that some see two events and some none and those in between see multiple events because of the peaks and valleys on the limb of the Moon. The most exciting thing with Antares is is that it is a double star and it is possible for one star to be eclipsed by the limb of the Moon but not the other so what you see is a gradual brightness drop or even a sustained brightness drop if one star is behind a flat part of the limb for a sustained length of time. I witnessed this and it was spectacular.

All you needed back then was a telescope with tracking, a shortwave radio tuned to a time signal and a tape recorder. You then later play back the tape and try and determine to 0.1 sec accuracy the time of each event. I think these days high sensitive video cameras are used combined with a GPS unit the imprints that time signal onto the video and this is far more accurate.

If anyone's is interested ask your local astronomical society if they have a graze coordinator and see what events are coming up. They are a lot of fun but be prepared to travel. Note that most grazes are of dimmer stars but these can still be quite good if favourable and by that I mean the star grazes the dark part of the limb and is easy to see.

[AstralTraveller]

I'm just going to take your word for that. :P

[DaveGee]

Hello (I don't know your name),

This was the Antares graze of 1990 February 18.

The Archive of Lunar Occultation Observations has observation data from a team of 18 observers that were sited north-east of the town of Cookardina (north of Holbrook). But sadly no data from you or any others at Bombarla.

If you still have (after 27 years) your observation timings as well as site coordinates, I would be pleased to create a report and get your observations into the archive.:shrug:

The Archive of Lunar Occultation Observations is available at the VizieR service and will be stored there, and made freely available to anyone who wants to access the data, until the end of time, or the end of mankind - which ever occurs first.:thumbsup:

[astro744]

I'll have a look and send you a PM. I do have my hand written report and likely the original tape recording and just have to find it amongst all the storage boxes I have which I am yet to catalogue.

I remember going twice and the date you mentioned is the second visit I made. See if you have data for July 9, 1987 as I just found this report but not the other but I know I have it. When I find all the data I'll get back to you.