On September 18, 1997, many stargazers in the U. S. [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] were able to watch a lovely early morning lunar occultation [ http://www.skypub.c…] as a bright Moon [ http://jrscience.wc…] passed in front of Saturn. Using a 1.2 meter reflector [ http://cfa-www.harv…], astronomer Kris Stanek had an excellent view of this [ http://cfa-www.harv…] dream-like event from the Whipple Observatory [ http://linmax.sao.a…] atop Arizona's Mount Hopkins [ http://cfa-www.harv…]. This animated gif image was constructed by Wes Colley from 4 frames taken by Stanek at 35 second intervals as the ringed planet emerged from behind the Moon's [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] dark limb. While lunar occultations [ http://www.skypub.c…0101lunarocc.html ] of fairly bright stars and planets are not extremely rare events, their exact timing [ http://www.lunar-oc…] depends critically on the observer's location. For observers in western North America [ http://www.lunar-oc…], the Moon will next occult Saturn on Monday morning, September 10 [ http://www.lunar-oc…].
Explanation
On September 18, 1997, many stargazers in the U. S. [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] were able to watch a lovely early morning lunar occultation [ http://www.skypub.c…] as a bright Moon [ http://jrscience.wc…] passed in front of Saturn. Using a 1.2 meter reflector [ http://cfa-www.harv…], astronomer Kris Stanek had an excellent view of this [ http://cfa-www.harv…] dream-like event from the Whipple Observatory [ http://linmax.sao.a…] atop Arizona's Mount Hopkins [ http://cfa-www.harv…]. This animated gif image was constructed by Wes Colley from 4 frames taken by Stanek at 35 second intervals as the ringed planet emerged from behind the Moon's [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] dark limb. While lunar occultations [ http://www.skypub.c…0101lunarocc.html ] of fairly bright stars and planets are not extremely rare events, their exact timing [ http://www.lunar-oc…] depends critically on the observer's location. For observers in western North America [ http://www.lunar-oc…], the Moon will next occult Saturn on Monday morning, September 10 [ http://www.lunar-oc…].
