45 Cap, Europa and Io conjunction - 3rd August 2009

[iceman (Mike)]

Today (3rd/4th August) in parts of Europa, Africa, South America and the Middle East, Jupiter is due to occult the star 45 Cap – something that happens very, very rarely.

For other parts of the world, including mine, the star wasn’t occulted by Jupiter but instead gathered close enough in the field of view for a conjunction with Europa and Io while I was out imaging Jupiter this morning.

Here’s my image from the close approach. 45 Cap is on the far left, Europa is next, and Io (with albedo features) is on the far right.

45 Cap, Europa and Io - Close Approach

Europa and Io were on a path to have their own occultation in about an hour from the time the image above was taken, but clouds came and ruined my chance to capture their encounter.

Jupiter images from the session, complete with the Wesley Impact Scar, will be posted later on.

Thanks for looking.

[bird (Anthony Wesley)]

Very nicely done Mike! I couldn't see this, ice haze covered the sky here by midnight.

cheers. Bird

[RB (Andrew)]

Lovely capture Mike !

[Dennis]

Nice work Mike. I think that this is the first time I have seen a field showing stars and planetary moons at this resolution? It is very interesting to see the noticeable difference between the featureless "empty" star and the surface contrast tones on the Galilean moons.

Cheers

Dennis

[StephenM (Stephen)]

Nicely captured Mike!

I was out looking at this between 9 and 10pm, and it looked great. The conditions didn't seem to be great in Brisbane, but I could see the GRS nicely in the periods of better seeing.

Cheers,
Stephen

[iceman (Mike)]

Thanks guys, I was quite surprised to see Cap 45 there while checking the moons for the upcoming occultation.

[Quark (Trevor)]

Well done Mike,

Have to echo the comment of Dennis, don't recall ever seeing a star in the same field at this sort of resolution. Can clearly detect differences in albedo on Io also.

Regards
Trevor