Although there are some thinning in the clouds with a beautiful sunset, it
looks like chances will be small for the clouds to be thin enough for most
observers across central and southeastern AZ, & w. NM, for the occultation of a
14.5-mag. star star in Taurus by the 54-km asteroid (222) Lucia at 7:51pm MST,
less than half an hour from now. If you want to try it anyway, details are at
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2019_03/0328_222_63586.htm . ;
The clouds are expected to move east, leaving clear skies in central Arizona a
little after midnight. At 4:00 am MST, the 5.4-mag. star 28 Sagittarii = ZC
2725 will reappear from behind the dark limb of the 47% sunlit waning (last
quarter) Moon, which will be 21 deg. above the s.e. horizon at the time for the
Phoenix area. The reappearance will occur 42 deg. (clockwise) measured around
the Moon's limb from the northern cusp, near the top of the Moon. The view
(with north up) of the Moon for the occultation is attached, computed for the
Phoenix region. You may remember 28 Sagittarii as the brightest star that was
occulted by Saturn in at least the last fifty years, on 1989 July 3 ; a
spectacular video of the event was recorded at Mt. Wilson Observatory by Dennis
DiCicco and Leif Robinson from S&T. The star was also occulted by Titan across
western Europe. The observations showed that the star is single.
David
PS Our expedition to the Camp Verde area for the occultation by Jena Monday
evening was successful; it looks like there are 4 positive observations and at
least two negative ones. The observations showed that Steve Kerr was near the
northern limit for the March 22 nd occultation in Australia, as he expected was
likely the case.
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