[AZ-Observing] Re: Transit and Occultation During Eclipse

  • From: Albert Barr <ajbarr@xxxxxx>
  • To: "az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 02 Apr 2015 14:12:29 -0700

Tom would video work?


On Apr 2, 2015, at 2:09 PM, Tom Polakis <tpolakis@xxxxxxx> wrote:

CalSky shows that the International Space Station will be passing in front of
the eclipsed moon on Saturday morning, and the path passes over the Valley.
In order to see the transit, you will need to be within about a mile of a
line that passes from roughly 59th Ave and Bell Rd through Gilbert Rd. and
Chandler Blvd. The transit times associated with those two intersections are
4:30:00 and 4:30:07; yep, 7 seconds to cover that distance.

Since the exposure time required to freeze the Space Station is on the order
of 1/2000 sec., and the time to show the eclipsed moon is 1/2 second, this is
not a photographable event. Still, it should be possible to see the
silhouette visually.

The more interesting event is the occultation of the elliptical galaxy NGC
4697, which occurs during totality. My planetarium software shows it
disappearing at 3:50, and reappearing nearly an hour later. The egress
should be more easily visible since the moon will be nearly totally eclipsed
at that time.

And yes, I am proud of that Subject line.

Tom
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