[AZ-Observing] Re: Young moon shot this weekend? Correction....

> As I understand it, the moon will be very young this Feb 1st, about 11
hours old at sunset.  Sky Charts shows it at just over 8* away at about 45
degrees from the horizon.  (PA 113 from the sun)  Obviously, if it were easy
to spot a moon this young, it probably wouldv'e been done already.
But.....is it worth a try anyway?
>
And, as Tom Polakis pointed out.....

Thanks for the alert.  I wasn't aware of it.  When I go to the USNO site,
it gives 10:48 UT as the time at which the moon phase is new.  So I think
the moon will be closer to 14 hours old at sunset.  That's still extremely
challenging.  For a long time the record was 13 1/2 hours until Pierre got
a 12 1/2 hour moon from Sentinel only to learn that Jim Stamm saw it at 12
hours, 20 minutes old the same day from Tucson.  If I remember correctly,
the record was set on January 31, and the year was something like 1995 or
1996.

If you're into setting a record, I think a naked-eye sighting of a 14-hour
moon has not been done.  You definitely want to begin with a scope,
though, as it's tough enough that way as it is.  The magic separation
number from the sun is 7 degrees or more.  You also want it to be
'straight up' from the sun at sunset, and it sounds from your note that
this won't be quite optimal.

If it is indeed 14 hours old, and not 11, you might post a correction to
the list rather than having me do it.

Tom


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