Eclipses, Occultations and Transits

In Islam the occultation is the name given to the disappearance of the Twelfth Imam. See also occult (disambiguation).

In this July, 1997 still frame captured from video, the bright star Aldebaran has just reappeared on the dark limb of the waning crescent moon in this predawn occultation.

An occultation is an astronomical event that occurs when one celestial object is hidden by another celestial object that passes between it and the observer. Compared to astronomical transits and eclipses, an occultation is said to occur when the nearer object appears larger and completely hides the more distant object. In contrast, the word transit refers to cases where the nearer object appears considerably smaller in apparent size than the more distant object, such as transit of Mercury or Venus across the Sun's disk. The word eclipse generally refers to those instances in which one object moves into the shadow of another. Each of these three terms are the visible effects of a syzygy.

Occultations by the Moon

The term occultation is most frequently used to describe those relatively frequent occasions when the Moon passes in front of a star during the course of its orbital motion around the Earth. Since the Moon has no atmosphere and stars have no appreciable angular size, a star that is occulted by the moon will disappear or reappear very nearly instantaneously on the moon's edge, or limb. Events that take place on the Moon's dark limb are of particular interest to observers, because the lack of glare allows these occultations to more easily be observed and timed.

The Moon's orbit is inclined to the ecliptic (see Moon's orbit), and any stars with an ecliptic latitude of less than about 6.5 degrees may be occulted by it. There are three first magnitude stars that are sufficiently close to the ecliptic that they may be occulted by the Moon and by planets -- Regulus, Spica and Antares. Occultations of Aldebaran are presently only possible by the Moon, because the planets pass Aldebaran to the north. Neither planetary nor lunar occultations of Pollux are curently possible. However, in the far future, occultations of Aldebaran and Pollux will be possible, as they were in the far past.

Jupiter several minutes before it disappeared behind the moon on 6/7/2005 (taken from Nelson, New Zealand).

Within a mile or two of the edge of an occultation's predicted path, referred to as its northern or southern limit, an observer may see the star intermittently disappearing and reappearing as the irregular limb of the Moon moves past the star, creating what is known as a grazing occultation. From an observational and scientific standpoint, these "grazes" are the most dynamic and interesting of lunar occultations.

The accurate timing of lunar occultations is performed regularly by (primarily amateur) astronomers. Lunar occultations timed to an accuracy of a few tenths of a second have various scientific uses, particularly in refining our knowledge of lunar topography. Photoelectric analysis of lunar occultations have also discovered some stars to be very close visual or spectroscopic binaries. Early radio astronomers found occultations of radio sources by the Moon valuable for determining their exact positions, because the long wavelength of radio waves limited the resolution available through direct observation.

Several times during the year, someone on Earth can usually observe the Moon occulting a planet. Since planets, unlike stars, have significant angular sizes, lunar occultations of planets will create a narrow zone on earth from which a partial occultation of the planet will occur. An observer located within that narrow zone could observe the planet's disk partly blocked by the slowly moving moon.

Occultation by planets

Stars may also be occulted by planets. In 1959, Venus occulted Regulus. Uranus' rings were first discovered when that planet occulted a star in 1977. On the evening of July 2-3, 1989, Saturn passed in front of the 5th magnitude star 28 Sagitarii.

It is also possible for one planet to occult another planet. However, these mutual occultations of planets are extremely rare. The last such event occurred on January 3, 1818 and will next occur on November 22, 2065, in both cases involving the same two planets -- Venus and Jupiter. Technically speaking, when the foreground planet is smaller in apparent size than the background planet, the event should be called a "mutual planetary transit." When the foreground planet is larger in apparent size than the background planet, the event should be called a "mutual planetary occultation." (See Transit for a list of past and future events).

A grazing occultation of Rhea, a moon of Saturn, by another moon, Dione

Twice during the orbital cycles of Jupiter and Saturn, the equatorial (and satellite) planes of those planets are aligned with earth's orbital plane, resulting in a series of mutual occultations and eclipses between the moons of these giant planets. These orbital alignments have also occurred artificially when unmanned spacecraft have traversed these planetary systems, resulting in photographs such as the one shown here. The terms "eclipse," "occultation" and "transit" are also used to describe these events. A satellite of Jupiter (for example) may be eclipsed (i.e. made dimmer because it moves into Jupiter's shadow), occulted (i.e. hidden from view because Jupiter lies on our line of sight), or may transit (i.e. pass in front of) Jupiter's disk.

BOSS

The Big Occulting Steerable Satellite is a proposed satellite that would work in conjunction with a telescope to detect planets around distant stars. The satellite consists of a large, very lightweight sheet, and a set of maneuvering thrusters and navigation systems. It would maneuver to a position along the line of sight between the telescope and a nearby star. The satellite would thereby block the radiation from the star, permitting the orbiting planets to be observed.

The currently-planned satellite would have a dimension of 70m × 70m and maneuver by means of an ion drive engine in combination with using the sheet as a light sail. Positioned at a distance of 100,000 km from the telescope, it is expected to block more than 99.998% of the starlight. The satellite would have a mass of about 600kg.

There are two possible configurations of this satellite. The first would work with a space telescope, most likely positioned near the Earth's L2 Lagrangian point. The second would place the satellite in a highly elliptical orbit about the Earth, and work in conjunction with a ground telescope. At the apogee of the orbit, the satellite would remain relatively stationary with respect to the ground, allowing longer exposure times.

Occultations of bright stars (<4 mag) and planets by planets between 1800 and 2100

These events are not visible everywhere the occulting body and the occulted body are above the skyline. Some events are barely visible, because they take place in close proximity to the Sun.

Mutual planetary transits and occultations

In rare cases, one planet can transit in front of another. The next time this will happen (as seen from Earth) will be on November 22, 2065 at about 12:43 UTC, when Venus near superior conjunction (with an angular diameter of 10.6") will transit in front of Jupiter (with an angular diameter of 30.9"); however, this will take place only 8° west of the Sun, and will therefore not be visible to the unaided/unprotected eye. When the nearer object has a larger angular diameter than the farther object, thus covering it completely, the event is not a transit but an occultation. Before transiting Jupiter, Venus will occult Jupiter's moon Ganymede at around 11:24 UTC as seen from some southernmost parts of Earth. Parallax will cause actual observed times to vary by a few minutes, depending on the precise location of the observer.

There are only 18 mutual planetary transits and occultations as seen from Earth between 1700 and 2200. Note the long break of events between 1818 and 2065!

• 19 Sep 1702 - Jupiter occults Neptune
• 20 Jul 1705 - Mercury transits Jupiter
• 14 Jul 1708 - Mercury occults Uranus

A simulation of Venus transiting Jupiter, as it did on January 3, 1818.

• 4 Oct 1708 - Mercury transits Jupiter
• 28 May 1737 - Venus occults Mercury
• 29 Aug 1771 - Venus transits Saturn
• 21 Jul 1793 - Mercury occults Uranus
• 9 Dec 1808 - Mercury transits Saturn
• 3 Jan 1818 - Venus transits Jupiter
• 22 Nov 2065 - Venus transits Jupiter
• 15 Jul 2067 - Mercury occults Neptune
• 11 Aug 2079 - Mercury occults Mars
• 27 Oct 2088 - Mercury transits Jupiter
• 7 Apr 2094 - Mercury transits Jupiter
• 21 Aug 2104 - Venus occults Neptune
• 14 Sep 2123 - Venus transits Jupiter
• 29 Jul 2126 - Mercury occults Mars
• 3 Dec 2133 - Venus occults Mercury

The 1737 event was observed by John Bevis at Greenwich Observatory - it is the only detailed account of a mutual planetary occultation. A transit of Mars across Jupiter on 12 Sep 1170 was observed by the monk Gervase at Canterbury, and by Chinese astronomers. In addition, an occultation of Mars by Venus was observed by M. Möstlin at Heidelberg on 3 Oct 1590.

See also

• Asteroid occultation
• Transit (also for occultations of planets by other planets)
• Transit of Mercury
• Transit of Venus
• Solar eclipse

External links

• International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA)
• Occultations of Regulus by planets (in German)
• Occultations of stars by planets (in German)
• Occultations of planets by other planets
• Big Occulting Steerable Satellite

External references

• Meeus, Jean: Astronomical Tables of the Sun, Moon and Planets. Richmond, Virginia: Willmann-Bell, Inc., 1995, ISBN 0-943396-45-X.