Posted on 03/19/2014 12:14:00 PM PDT by messierhunter
This is a rare opportunity to witness an asteroid pass in front of a bright star, blocking out its light for up to ~14 seconds. Occultations occur all the time, but rarely do they happen to stars that are this bright and easy to see by naked eye. In that sense, it is likely a once in a lifetime event for those living near the path of occultation. Regulus is the brightest star in the constellation Leo and the 22nd brightest star in the night sky overall.
The occultation will occur at about 2 am tomorrow morning. The path takes it through NYC, near New Haven, Albany, Rochester, and farther north just west of Ottawa. If you live near the path of occultation I highly encourage you to take a trip out tonight to observe the event. The timing (2 am) may be inconvenient to most, but this may be the only chance you get to see an occultation happen to a star this bright. It is the most significant known occultation (in terms of size of the asteroid and brightness of the star) to occur in the US.
Charts and information about the occultation can be found at these links, including information on where to watch it online for those of us who live too far away (myself included):
http://occultations.org/regulus2014/
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/observations/RegulusOcc/
So will anyone who lives near to but outside the indicated band...say Boston...be able to see this occulation?
Looks like rain, snow and clouds tonight unfortunately.
No, unfortunately not. If you’re exceedingly lucky and the asteroid has an undetected moon it’s possible that the moon could occult the star, but for any given observer the odds on seeing that are quite low. Still, it’s worth watching if you’re near but not in the path of occultation. You could get lucky.
Yes, the weather doesn’t look good. Hopefully someone will have a gap in the clouds at the right moment. Alternatively, if you happen to be taking some kind of red-eye flight through the path of occultation at just the right time, keep an eye out for Regulus.
A large number of people in this country will be able to see the occultation of a brighter star (as seen from the earth—not as bright in real terms as Regulus) on August 21, 2017. The moon will do the occulting and it will be during the daytime so you won’t have to set your alarm.
Oh, I wasn’t referring to lunar occultations. Those are very common, but significant asteroid occultations of stars this bright are exceedingly rare.
If I am in a deep sleep in my warm bed at 2am on a cold March morning...it means I already got lucky.
I'll pass on the star gazing until the warmer months.
I was referring to the next total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous 48 states.
Oh, then there are those too lol
Thanks messierhunter, extra to APoD.
Thank you for the ping. It is very overcast and rainy here in Ohio, as is usually the case. I very much doubt that we will be able to see the occultation, unfortunately.
I am so happy to be back on your ping list. It’s very comfortable here. ;-)
“Those are very common, but significant asteroid occultations of stars this bright are exceedingly rare.”
It’s never happened in recorded history (when someone noticed anyway).
So did anyone end up getting any good pics?
Unfortunately not, it doesn’t look like anyone in the path of occultation had acceptable weather, at least that I can find.
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