Watch a star disappear this Sunday night (05NOV)

Looking for a good show on Sunday evening? Well, the bright star Aldebaran will be occulted

(“eclipsed”) by the Moon, and it’s worth making the effort to watch.  Viewing from eastern Virginia

area the actual disappearance can be seen at +/-0056Z (1956 Local) {check online for local times

if you’re not in Va.}, but it’s best to start checking it out periodically up to an hour beforehand.

An hour before the event the Moon will still be a considerable distance from the star, so if you go

out and look every few minutes after that you’ll be able to actually SEE the orbital motion

of the Moon as it closes-in on Aldebaran.  About ten minutes before the occultation is a good

time to begin watching closely as the separation between Moon and star shrinks to nothing…and

then the star winks out!  Can you catch the exact moment when Aldebaran disappears?

Tip for watching: The Moon will be low in the east, but still pretty bright.  The glare may tend

to drown-out Aldebaran’s orange-ish light.  Use a telescope or a pair of binoculars, focus on

the star and follow it, keeping most of the bright Moon out of the field-of-view except for the

edge (“limb”) creeping in from the upper right.

Watching the disappearance of a bright star in occultation is pretty easy…star and Moon seem to

move together until…lights out!  If you want a REAL challenge, try watching for Aldebaran’s

REAPPEARANCE, when the distant sun seems to wink back into existence!

Here’s a good link for more information about this semi-rare event…

https://www.space.com/16149-night-sky.html

Questions? Drop me a note at navalgamer@afgimail.com  If you DO go out to watch this event

I’d like to hear your comments and observations--I am always up for a conversation on the subject

of star-gazing!