Occultation of Antares, Central and Western Australia, 10 September 2024

The western sky at 23:50 ACST Tuesday, September 10 as seen from Adelaide. The moon is about to occult the bright star Antares. The inset shows the telescopic view at the time. (click to embiggen). Click to embiggen	The western sky at 23:50 ACST Tuesday, September 10 as seen from Alice Springs. The moon is about to occult the bright star Antares. The inset shows the telescopic view at the time. (click to embiggen)Click to embiggen	The western sky at 22:07 AWST Tuesday, September 10 as seen from Perth. The moon is about to occult the bright star Antares. The inset shows the telescopic view at the time. Click to embiggen

On Tuesday 10 September, Antares, the brightest start in Scorpio, is occulted by the Moon as seen from the central and western states. This can be seen from Perth, Darwin, Alice Springs, Adelaide and other sites (see the table below for more locations). Everywhere else sees a close approach or graze low to the horizon

Occultation map from IOTA.

The occultation occurs with the moon low above the western horizon for the central states just before midnight. Perth and Western Australia generally sees the occultation start around 10 pm well above the western horizon.  Northern sites will see the Moon set before the Antares reappears. Disappearance and appearance times are given in the table below. For several sites the Moon sets before Antares reappears. Other locations will see the occultation at a similar time for cities at a similar latitude (eg Woomera is similar to Adelaide).

While the occultation is visible to the unaided eye, the sight will be better in binoculars or a small telescope. Set up ahead of time so that you can be sure everything is working well and you can watch the entire event comfortably. Antares will be clearly visible to the unaided eye near the Moon. Other sites can be found at IOTA (timings in UT)

Labels: binocular, Moon, Occultation, unaided eye

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 8:59 pm