{"id":62670,"date":"2024-08-20T05:54:08","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T05:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/7ca923fb-c788-44fd-982d-18b405fd9d8c"},"modified":"2024-08-20T06:39:40","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T06:39:40","slug":"excited-by-this-weeks-supermoon-see-the-planet-saturn-disappear-behind-it-tomorrow-morning","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/excited-by-this-weeks-supermoon-see-the-planet-saturn-disappear-behind-it-tomorrow-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Excited by this week’s supermoon? See the planet Saturn disappear behind it tomorrow morning"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Pete Lawrence\n <\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 20 August 2024 at 05:54 AM<\/p>

\n\n

There\u2019s a rare lunar occultation of the planet Saturn visible from the UK in the early hours of tomorrow morning, 21 August 2024.<\/p>

This is a great chance to see one of the most inspiring sights in planetary observing, as Saturn will disappear behind the Moon from our perspective on Earth, only to reappear 45 minutes later.<\/p>

Find out more about how to calculate and observe lunar occultations<\/a> and how to observe Saturn<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>

Saturn will disappear behind a 97%-lit waning gibbous Moon on the morning of 21 August. Click image to expand. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Lunar occultations explained<\/strong><\/h2>

A lunar occultation<\/a> occurs when the Moon\u2019s disc appears to cover a more distant object, hiding it from view.<\/p>

Although the Moon looks impressive and dominant in a dark sky, its apparent size is actually only half a degree across.<\/p>

The Moon is able to move around the sky in a relatively narrow corridor approximately 10\u00b0 wide, centred on the ecliptic<\/a>.<\/p>

The main planets also stay near the ecliptic, but the width of the Moon\u2019s corridor means planetary occultations are infrequent.\u00a0<\/p>

\"Occultation
Occultation of the Moon and Saturn by Zlatko Orbanic, Pula, Croatia. Equipment: Astro Tech 80\/480, Canon EOS 600D.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

There are three types of lunar occultation event: disappearance, reappearance and a graze.<\/p>

The third type is a special kind of occultation where, from your position, the Moon\u2019s edge appears to scrape the more distant object.<\/p>

In the case of a planet with a tangible apparent size, it only gets partially hidden by the Moon.<\/p>

\"The
The lunar occultation of Saturn, 22 May 2007. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Saturn lunar occultation dates and times<\/strong><\/h2>

The lunar occultation of Saturn on 21 August will be a full occultation from the UK.<\/p>

Disappearance occurs at 04:28 BST (03:28 UT) at the start of dawn.<\/p>

The sky will be fairly dark at this time, making Saturn easy to monitor as the Moon approaches.<\/p>

The lunar occultation of Saturn can be seen with the naked eye, although the Moon\u2019s brightness may make Saturn harder to see close to the lunar limb.<\/p>

Binoculars will show the event well, but a telescope will really bring home what\u2019s happening. It takes 49 seconds for the Moon\u2019s edge to fully cover the planet.\u00a0<\/p>

Saturn reappears 45 minutes later, at 05:13 BST (04:13 UT), from behind the Moon\u2019s dark edge.<\/p>

Although the sky will be brighter as this occurs, it\u2019s perfectly observable from the UK given clear skies.\u00a0<\/p>

\"Chart
Saturn\u2019s brighter Moons will also be occulted on 21 August 2024. Titan\u2019s reappearance 8 minutes 9 seconds before the planet is a good heads-up for where you can expect Saturn to reappear. Click image to expand. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Observing the occultation<\/strong><\/h2>

At present, Saturn appears quite edge-on to us, its northern pole tilted toward us by just 3\u00b0.<\/p>

Consequently, the planet\u2019s rings appear rather thin, something most apparent if you\u2019re usinga smaller scope.<\/p>

Another interesting observation to carry out during the event is the planet\u2019s brighter moons being occulted.<\/p>

Brightening skies may make them harder to see, but Saturn\u2019s largest moon, Titan, should be easy to keep track of during disappearance and just visible at reappearance.\u00a0<\/p>

The timings shown here are general for the centre of the UK.<\/p>

The Moon is close to Earth and exhibits parallax, appearing in a slightly different position relative to the background stars depending on your location.<\/p>

Make sure you start to observe at least 20 minutes before the stated times to avoid missing anything.<\/p>

Did you observe or photograph the lunar occultation of Saturn on 21 August 2024? Let us know by emailing contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Pete Lawrence Published: Tuesday, 20 August 2024 at 05:54 AM There\u2019s a rare lunar occultation of the planet Saturn visible from the UK in the early hours of tomorrow morning, 21 August 2024. This is a great chance to see one of the most inspiring sights in planetary observing, as Saturn will disappear behind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":62671,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/excited-by-this-weeks-supermoon-see-the-planet-saturn-disappear-behind-it-tomorrow-morning.jpg",1200,841,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/excited-by-this-weeks-supermoon-see-the-planet-saturn-disappear-behind-it-tomorrow-morning-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/excited-by-this-weeks-supermoon-see-the-planet-saturn-disappear-behind-it-tomorrow-morning-300x210.jpg",300,210,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/excited-by-this-weeks-supermoon-see-the-planet-saturn-disappear-behind-it-tomorrow-morning-768x538.jpg",768,538,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/excited-by-this-weeks-supermoon-see-the-planet-saturn-disappear-behind-it-tomorrow-morning-1024x718.jpg",800,561,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/excited-by-this-weeks-supermoon-see-the-planet-saturn-disappear-behind-it-tomorrow-morning.jpg",1200,841,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/excited-by-this-weeks-supermoon-see-the-planet-saturn-disappear-behind-it-tomorrow-morning.jpg",1200,841,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Pete Lawrence Published: Tuesday, 20 August 2024 at 05:54 AM There\u2019s a rare lunar occultation of the planet Saturn visible from the UK in the early hours of tomorrow morning, 21 August 2024. This is a great chance to see one of the most inspiring sights in planetary observing, as Saturn will disappear behind…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/62670"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}