The Moon occults Antares tonight!

Bad Astronomy
By Phil Plait
Jun 7, 2009 2:14 AMNov 5, 2019 7:18 AM

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Nuts, I forgot to post about this earlier: tonight the Moon will pass in front of the bright star Antares. The time depends on where you are; the Moon is close enough to Earth that your longitude will change the timing of the event due to parallax. Check the Lunar Occultations site for info. Note that the time listed is Universal time! Go here to see what time that means for you. This is a non-starter for me here in Boulder; the Moon will be below the horizon when it passes in front of Antares. But you may be in a better location! Also cool: Antares is the brightest star in Scorpius (go here to get a sky map to see where to look) and it's a red supergiant. It's so freaking huge that it will take an appreciable amount of time for the Moon to cover it (a fraction of a second, but not instantaneous). If you're in a place where you can see this, give it a shot! Binoculars are probably best for this, but if you have a small telescope that works too. Astroprof and AstroGuyz have more info, too.

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