Occultation of Neptune!

[Outbackmanyep]

Interesting, in Astronomy 2007 Ephemeris there is a Neptune Occultation by the moon on the 17th November @ 22:35 EST (sydney) . Im guessing that Daylight savings will have to be added....

Great opportunity for those planetary camera buffs!

:thumbsup:

[Dennis]

Thanks for the heads up OBM. Now if only the Qld weather would cooperate on the night!

Cheers

Dennis

[iceman]

Thanks for that, I didn't think we had any occultations this year.

I'll definitely try for it if it's clear.

[citivolus]

Looks like 22:50:24 - 23:22:48 for me, if Cartes du Ciel is accurate for these. Occultation starts on the dark side, and ends on the lit side. Unfortunately ending at 8.5 degrees elevation will make it tough to image from here.

[iceman]

hmm 8.5deg for you makes it even lower for me :(

[citivolus]

Actually if I put in Gosford I get about 12 degrees elevation at an end time of 23:19, and 21 degrees at a start time of 22:36 (GMT+10).

[iceman]

A reminder about this event, this weekend! November 17.

For Sydney latitudes, GMT+11 (AEDST), the occultation starts at 11:36pm when the moon is at an altitude of 21°.

The occultation ends at approx 00:19 (AEDST), with the moon at an altitude of about 11°.

So you'll need a good Western horizon, and hope for good seeing! Will be tough for high-mag stuff, but could be suitable for a shorter focal length.

[Outbackmanyep]

Are you going to try for this Mike?
I was hoping to come and see you then!
Cheers!

[higginsdj]

C/- Dave Herald..... Note the formatting didn't hold up in the forum.... First column is observer location. The next 3 numbers are the time in UT (H M S), Sun Alt is blank, then Moon Alt, followed then by CA and PA.

Cheers

An interesting/rare occultation occurs this Saturday. The Moon will occult Neptune at about 11.30 pm as seen from south-eastern Australia, and New Zealand. The circumstances of the occultation make it an almost ideal opportunity to observe the event - the moon is 45% illuminated with Neptune being a fair distance from the northern cusp (The northern-limit graze passes roughly from Port Augusta to Brisbane, but is against the bright limb.)
Note that unlike occultations of stars, the occultation of Neptune will be non-instantaneous. Indeed, for Canberra the predicted duration is about 6 secs.
Predictions for a range of cities in Australia and New Zealand are as follows.

Occultation predictions of Neptune Magnitude 7.9
Date 2007 Nov 17
Moon: % illumination = 45+, Solar elongation = 84
Disappearance
U.T. Sun Moon CA PA
Location h m s Alt Alt o o
Adelaide 12 38 48 31 14N 356
Albury 12 31 4 26 34N 16
Ballarat 12 28 4 29 32N 14
Bendigo 12 30 4 28 31N 13
Brisbane 12 51 14 15 22N 4
Broken Hill 12 46 30 27 11N 353
Canberra 12 32 19 24 36N 18
Dubbo 12 40 24 22 28N 10
Geelong 12 26 27 29 34N 16
Hobart 12 14 40 28 46N 28
Launceston 12 17 57 28 44N 26
Melbourne 12 27 7 28 34N 16
Mildura 12 38 21 28 21N 2
Mt Gambier 12 28 25 31 27N 9
Newcastle 12 37 15 20 35N 16
Portland 12 26 42 31 30N 12
Sydney 12 35 17 21 36N 17
Tamworth 12 42 23 20 29N 11
Towoomba 12 51 46 16 20N 2
Wagga 12 33 19 25 33N 15
Wagga Wagga 12 33 19 25 33N 15
Wollongong 12 33 54 22 37N 18

U.T. Sun Moon CA PA
Location h m s Alt Alt o o
Alexandra 12 8 53 14 71N 53
Arthur's Pass 12 12 40 11 70N 52
Auckland 12 22 11 5 64N 46
Balclutha 12 7 4 14 72N 54
Blenheim 12 14 31 9 70N 51
Bluff 12 6 34 15 71N 53
Cape Palliser 12 14 1 8 71N 52
Cape Reinga 12 27 14 5 58N 40
Carterton 12 14 55 7 70N 52
Christchurch 12 11 24 11 71N 53
Dannevirke 12 16 9 6 69N 51
Dunedin 12 7 37 13 72N 54
East Cape 12 19 29 3 67N 49
Featherston 12 14 52 7 70N 52
Franz Josef 12 12 5 12 69N 51
Gisborne 12 18 3 4 68N 50
Glenorchy 12 9 44 14 70N 52
Great Barrier Is 12 23 5 5 63N 45
Greymouth 12 13 30 11 69N 51
Greytown 12 14 51 7 70N 52
Haast Pass 12 10 55 13 70N 51
Hahei 12 21 53 5 64N 46
Hamilton 12 20 28 6 65N 47
Hastings 12 16 50 6 69N 51
Hokitika 12 13 6 11 69N 51
Invercargill 12 6 54 15 71N 53
Kaikohe 12 25 5 5 61N 43
Kaikoura 12 13 4 9 71N 52
Kaitaia 12 25 48 5 60N 42
Kerikeri 12 25 23 5 61N 42
Levin 12 15 43 7 69N 51
Martinborough 12 14 36 7 70N 52
Marton 12 16 35 7 69N 50
Masterton 12 15 3 7 70N 52
Milford Sound 12 10 7 14 69N 51
Mt Cook Village 12 11 29 12 70N 52
Napier 12 17 5 5 69N 51
National Park 12 18 6 6 67N 49
Nelson 12 15 5 9 69N 51
New Plymouth 12 18 40 7 66N 48
North Cape 12 27 7 5 59N 41
Oamaru 12 8 56 12 72N 54
Ohakune 12 17 43 6 68N 50
Opua-Bay of Is. 12 25 8 5 61N 43
Otaki 12 15 28 7 69N 51
Otorohonga 12 19 49 6 66N 48
Paeroa 12 21 1 5 65N 47
Palmerston North 12 16 2 7 69N 51
Paraparaumu 12 15 19 8 69N 51
Picton 12 14 54 8 69N 51
Piha 12 22 9 6 64N 46
Queenstown 12 9 23 14 70N 52
Raetihi 12 17 43 7 68N 50
Rotorua 12 19 31 5 67N 48
Taihape 12 17 7 6 68N 50
Taupo 12 18 42 6 67N 49
Tauranga 12 20 21 5 66N 48
Te Anau 12 8 47 15 70N 52
Thames 12 21 26 5 65N 46
Timaru 12 10 7 12 71N 53
Twizel 12 10 31 13 70N 52
Waiouru 12 17 30 6 68N 50
Waipawa 12 16 25 6 69N 51
Wairoa 12 17 38 5 68N 50
Wanganui 12 16 55 7 68N 50
Warkworth 12 23 2 5 63N 45
Wellington 12 14 42 8 70N 52
Westport 12 14 41 10 68N 50
Whakatane 12 19 36 5 67N 48
Whangarei 12 24 20 5 62N 44



Dave Herald
Canberra, Australia

[CoombellKid]

This would be good, hopefully I'll have my scope up an running by then.
If not might have to try and observe this in my 20x80's... maybe:whistle:

Thanks for the heads up

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

SN tells me it starts up here on the north coast @ 11:46pm and ends
00:21am the next morning at around 10 degree off the horizon. With
Neptune at 7.91 should be easily doable in the 20x80's. My western
horizon is fine. Looking forward to some pictures being posted.

regards,CS