Saturday, May 10th DAYLIGHT OCCULTATION OF MARS

 

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                 The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY
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          Special Electronic News Bulletin     2008 May 8
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Saturday, May 10th  DAYLIGHT OCCULTATION OF MARS.
By Jon Harper SPA Occultation Director

Although the event takes place in daylight, with Mars at m(v) +1.3,
observers over most of the country will have an opportunity (weather
permitting) of observing this occultation telescopically.  The Moon
will be a 5-day-old crescent and so should be visible to the naked
eye, given a clear blue sky.  The far north of Scotland misses the
occultation; the graze line runs from just south of the Island of
Mull, via Hayfield, Dalmally, Bridge of Orchy, Dunkeld, and reaches
the North Sea near Inverbervie.  The event will be observable from all
parts of the UK south of that line if conditions are favourable.  See
the map and diagrams at the Occultation Section website:
http://asteroccuk.iifree.net/lunarocc.htm

The times of disappearance at the Moon's dark limb, and reappearance
at the bright limb, are given below for various cities in the UK.  The
times given are UT, so don't forget to add an hour for British Summer
Time.

                Belfast      12:25   12:50
                Glasgow      12:32   12:48
                Edinburgh    12:31   12:49
                Newcastle    12:26   12:55
                Leeds        12:21   12:57
                Liverpool    12:19   12:56
                Birmingham   12:16   12:59
                London       12:14   13:01
                Cardiff      12:13   12:58
                Brighton     12:12   13:02
                Plymouth     12:10   12:58


The SPA Electronic News Bulletins are sponsored by the Open University.

Bulletin compiled by Clive Down

(c) 2008 the Society for Popular Astronomy