[BAA 00288] Venus occultation next Monday

[Rick]

BAA electronic bulletin No. 00288 - http://www.britastro.org/

Daylight occultation of Venus

Next Monday afternoon (June 18) there will be an interesting daylight occultation of Venus by the Moon. The event is listed on page 26 of this year's Handbook. The disappearance is due at 14:03UT from London (13:55UT in Edinburgh) and the reappearance is due at 15:22UT from London (15:15UT in Edinburgh). Remember to add one hour to these times to get clock time in the UK.

The event should be clearly visible in binoculars and should even be visible to the naked eye if the sky is transparent. At the time of the event the Moon is a thin waxing crescent and Venus is a much thicker waning one. The disappearance takes place at the dark lunar limb with the Moon and Venus around 53 degrees altitude from central England, just to the east of south. The reappearance takes place at the bright limb with the pair nearly due south and at an altitude of 56 degrees.

Venus is near greatest Eastern elongation at the time of the event so the separation from the Sun is large (45 degrees) but, as is always the case with daytime observation, be extremely careful that you do not point binoculars or telescopes anywhere near the Sun.

Please send any observations of the event to the undersigned who will forward them to the relevant person within the BAA.

Even if you don't manage to observe the occultation it is worth observing Venus now as its waning crescent is rapidly growing in size as the planet  heads for inferior conjunction on August 18. Any observations of Venus should be sent to the Mercury and Venus section director, Richard McKim (RMcKim5374 at aol com).

Nick James, Papers secretary (ndj at blueyonder co uk).

[Rick]

A reminder

Occultation of Venus: Monday, June 18

Times of immersion and emersion are dependent on observing location:
Greenwich: 14h 03.1m UT ; 15h 22.0m UT
Edinburgh: 13h 55.1m ; 15h 14.8m UT

For further details see the Handbook (p.26)

The weather prospects are not good (at least not for Northampton)
Good luck!
I would be pleased to place images on the I&I Section website

R.A. Marriott
Director

ram at hamal demon co uk
http://www.britastro.org/iandi