*Am establishing a thread for events as listed in the Topic Description (and more). Currently have nothing to "report." That'll change, of course.

Please post upcoming events and times, geographical locations (including major cities) favored for said event, etc.

--Cindy

Mike Salway posted these images of the planets that he made for Universe Today:

http://www.universetoday.com/am/uploads/mike_planets.jpg

And as for upcoming astronomical events:

THE CHRISTMAS OCCULTATION OF SPICA

On Christmas morning, the waning crescent Moon will pass across and cover
up the 1st-magnitude star Spica as seen from most of North America. This
event offers a special and memorable way to start Christmas Day. Both the
disappearance of the star behind the Moon's bright edge, and its
reappearance later from behind the Moon's dark edge, happen in broad
daylight for much of the continent, so you'll need a telescope. Make this
holiday one that will stand out in memory! Our article and maps tell all
you need to watch this unusual event from your location:

http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/objec...icle_1620_1.asp

Saturn occults an 8th magnitude star on January 25, 2006:

http://www.iota-es.de/satocc_2006.html

Yes this will not be visible in Europe. Again the political prejudice of Americans against our continent.

Hey, you guys got a total solar eclipse in 1999. The USA won't get its next one until 2017. Asia and Africa get them all the time.

And every time a space probe flies by Earth, they always take images of South America, Africa, and Australia, but rarely North America. Some kind of cosmic bias, I think.

WANTED: AMATEUR STARGAZERS TO HELP SOLVE MYSTERY
------------------------------------------------

Ohio State University scientists have thought of a new way to solve an
astronomical mystery, and their plan relies on a well-connected network of
amateur stargazers and one very elusive subatomic particle.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0601/04mystery/

Universe Today is offering a 407-page document describing the celestial events of 2006.

Details, links, and their introduction text are here:

What's Up 2006 - 365 Days of Skywatching (13.5 MB)

http://www.universetoday.com/365days.pdf

This is a FREE 407-page downloadable book containing What's Up material for every day in 2006. You can download the book to your local computer, go to the day you like and print off the page to take outside with you nicely formatted. It's also got tons of other material including general skywatching advice, equipment selection, and hundreds of beautiful photographs. We've been working pretty hard on this. :-)

The entire book is 13.5 MB, so be patient.

It's an Adobe Acrobat PDF file, so you'll need to download the Adobe Acrobat reader if you don't have it already.

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

==================================================================
This Is SKY & TELESCOPE's AstroAlert for Occultations
==================================================================

Please help us observe two good events this week in
Maryland/DC/northern Virginia (and many other parts of the Mid-
Atlantic Region) are a passage of the Moon through the southern
part of the Pleiades cluster Monday evening, January 9, and the
occultation of a 9th-mag. star by the small asteroid 1707 Chantal
Thursday evening, January 12. For the Chantal event, occurring at
high altitude above the horizon and at a convenient time, I hope
that many observers across the region can try to observe it so that
2 or 3 of us might actually time the occultation. More details are
on my Web site - see the note below. For the Pleiades passage, see
mainly the total occultation section below for the bright events you
can see from your location. That passage will also be visible from
essentially all of North and South America. For long-range planning,
keep in mind the spectacular passage of the thin crescent Moon over
the Pleiades on Sat. evening, April 1, with a dark-limb grazing
occultation of 4th-mag. Maia over the northern and eastern suburbs
of Washington, DC.
___________________

Asteroidal Occultations
dur. Ap.
Date Day EST Star Mag Asteroid dmag s in. Location

Jan 7 Sat 17:06 12 Aquarii 5.5 Hannibal 10.6 1 1 sQC,nME,nNB,NL
Jan 12 Thu 20:23 SAO 76774 9.5 Chantal 5.5 5 3 ePA,cMD,DC,VA
Jan 17 Tue 18:25 TYC12981005 10.6 Echo 0.7 18 6 NYC,nNJ,sPA,OH
Jan 25 Wed 23:41 TYC18720305 11.4 Sarema 4.0 5 7 nNJ,e&nwPenn.
Jan 27 Fri 19:49 TYC07360356 10.0 Veritas 3.3 12 4 s.N.Carolina
Jan 27 Fri 21:00 2UC31310997 11.3 Genua 0.8 8 7 sNJ,se-nwPenn.
Feb 3 Fri 18:35 2UC29027376 11.6 Tokio 2.2 2 7 cNC,seVirginia

Notes:

Jan. 7: Oops, too late for this bright event, but it was too far
from the Mid-Atlantic region, anyway (twilight too bright even to
monitor the appulse here). The part of s.e. Canada crossed by the
path has no known occultation observers.

Jan. 12: The 7-mile-wide path roughly parallels I-95 between
Baltimore and Washington, but is nominally farther west, passing
over Reisterstown, western Howard County, Brookeville, Rockville,
and Potomac in Maryland, and Great Falls, Fairfax, and Manassas in
Virginia, as well as parts of eastern Penn. (note the time is
earlier there - see Steve Preston's Web site for details, link
given below), central Va., and western N. Carolina. But the
uncertainty is so large that the actual path could pass as far west
as Frederick or as far east as Annapolis, MD, so observers
throughout the Washington-Baltimore region, across central Maryland,
DC, and northern Virginia, have a chance for an occultation - please
try to monitor it if you can. Let me know if you will try to observe
it so that mobile observers can be targeted to fill in gaps in the
coverage provided by fixed-site observers, if it is clear enough.
Bad weather is forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, but Accuweather
is forecasting partly to mostly cloudy Thursday evening. It's too
early for a good forecast, but if it holds up, we'll just observe
from convenient home locations rather than travel to other locations
and risk being clouded out there. The target star should be fairly
easy to find, near a couple of 7th-mag. stars in northern Taurus a
few deg. south of 3rd-mag. iota Aurigae, at J2000 RA 4h 49m 26.5s,
Dec +29 deg. 53' 19". Path maps, finder charts, and other
information can be found at the links given below, but for this
event, I've consolodated the maps and charts into a Power Point
file that you can get near the top of my Web site at
http://iota.jhuapl.edu or, directly, at
http://iota.jhuapl.edu/exped107.ppt .

We now have astrometric updates for all of these events. Stars with
designations starting "2UC" are UCAC2 stars; their magnitudes are not as
accurate as the other catalogs so they might be half a magnitude or more
fainter than the listed magnitude; if near the limit of your telescope,
checking the star's some night before the event is recommended.

Especially for the fainter stars and events of shorter duration,
we will plan no observations unless an astrometric update indicates a
reasonable chance for an occultation in the Mid-Atlantic states.
The asteroidal occultation section of the IOTA Web site at
http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota has finder charts for many of
these events while updated paths, and often detailed finder charts,
can be found at Steve Preston's Web site at
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com . Very detailed maps for these
events can be found on Charlie Ridgway's interactive Web page at
http://digitalmagic.i8.com/Astronomy/Occultations/ that links to the
very detailed maps and satellite imagery of maps.google.com with
overlays of the occultation paths.
_______________________________________________________________

Grazing Occultations

DATE Day EST Star Mag % alt CA Location

Jan 9 Mon 21:38 Alcyone 2.9 82+ 71-11N Asheville,NC;Williamsburg,VA
Jan 9 Mon 10:38 ZC 564 6.2 82+ 61 7S Fredricksbrg,VA; Hollywood,MD
Feb 9 Thu 1:59 ZC 996 6.8 86+ 32 6N Woodbine,Columbia,&Hanover,MD

Notes:

The graze of Alcyone won't be observable due to its being on the
bright side of the highly gibbous Moon; no expedition is planned for
it. The other two grazes will be rather difficult because they will
occur very close, within a few arc seconds, of sunlit features along
the Moon's terminator. The earlier part of the grazes will be easier
since the star will approach the Moon from the dark side. The Jan.
9th graze, a Pleiades star, will be a little easier to obsrve than the
Feb. 9th graze.

For ZC 564, the first Astro Meteo (Clear Sky Clock) forecast shows
that it will be mostly cloudy across the Mid-Atlantic region,
especially along the graze path, so we will not undertake an
expedition for the graze [unless later forecasts show improved
conditions; ONLY if that's the case, I'll send another message with
more information about this graze], concentrating instead on trying
to record and time the bright total occultations (see list below)
from convenient home locations (or, if the weather satellite loop
shows clear skies in some nearby location, possibly going there).

Some grazes will not be attempted if expeditions are undertaken for
asteroidal occultations within 36 hours of the graze. * in the Notes
column means that no DC-area expedition is planned. For some of
these grazes, I'll ask Charlie Ridgway to put the paths on his
google maps Web site so you can see exactly where the northern or
southern limit line passes, and then need to offset from it by an
amount that can ge determined from the predicted profile to define
the graze zone.
_________________________________________________________________________

Total Lunar Occultations

The better total lunar occultations through early February 2006
visible from throughout the Washington-Baltimore greater metropolitan
area are listed below. Some can be accurately timed by aiming a
camcorder into a low-power eyepiece of your telescope and recording
WWV with the audio. Unfortunately, for the Pleiades passage with
many events Monday evening, the forecast is for mostly cloudy skies,
possibly thin enough to time some of the brighter events, for the
Mid-Atlantic region from Virginia to Pennsylvania. Better
conditions are expected, with perhaps scattered cloudcover and
relatively poor transparency, in the Carolinas, New Jersey, and s.e.
Penn.

DATE Day EST Ph Star Mag % alt CA Sp. Notes

Jan 8 Sun 17:31 D SAO 93126 7.9 73+ 55 40S G5 Sun alt. -6 deg.
Jan 8 Sun 18:28 D ZC 421 6.6 73+ 64 89S F8
Jan 9 Mon 0:08 D ZC 439 7.3 74+ 32 57S F0 mag.2 9.8 0.1",PA276
Jan 9 Mon 19:56 D SAO 76175 8.2 82+ 72 88S A0 spectroscopic binary
Jan 9 Mon 20:26 D SAO 76189 7.0 82+ 75 87N F8
Jan 9 Mon 20:33 D SAO 76198 7.8 82+ 75 79S A3 D 3sec before next
Jan 9 Mon 20:33 D ZC 550 7.0 82+ 75 73N A1
Jan 9 Mon 20:34 D Merope 4.1 82+ 75 8N B6 23 Tauri = ZC 545
Jan 9 Mon 20:42 D SAO 76202 7.8 82+ 75 58S K0
Jan 9 Mon 20:46 D ZC 551 7.3 82+ 75 51N B9 mag.2 9.1 6.6",PA265
Jan 9 Mon 20:55 D SAO 76185 8.4 82+ 74 20N A2
Jan 9 Mon 21:34 D ZC 559 6.5 82+ 71 87S F0 mag.2 9.3 .01"
Jan 9 Mon 21:38 M Alcyone 2.9 82+ 71 -11N B7 MISS; see grazes
Jan 9 Mon 21:45 D SAO 76231 8.1 82+ 69 89S A2
Jan 9 Mon 21:56 D Atlas 3.6 82+ 68 55N B8 27Tau=ZC560;spec.bin.
Jan 9 Mon 22:10 D Pleione 5.1 82+ 65 34N B7 28Tau=ZC561;closeDbl?
Jan 9 Mon 22:16 D ZC 567 6.8 82+ 64 67S A0 mag.3 8.9 10",PA235
Jan 9 Mon 22:25 D ZC 564 6.2 82+ 63 24S B8 Graze s.MD, see above
Jan 9 Mon 22:50 D ZC 570 7.0 83+ 50 78S A2
Jan 10 Tue 2:35 D ZC 587 6.2 84+ 17 44N K0
Jan 10 Tue 2:57 D SAO 76358 7.2 84+ 13 33S B9 Azimuth 291
Jan 11 Wed 2:21 D ZC 732 7.5 90+ 31 72S K3 mag.2 10.2 .04",PA69
Jan 11 Wed 18:08 D ZC 840 6.3 94+ 38 64S K0 spectroscopic binary
Jan 12 Thu 2:57 D ZC 885 5.6 95+ 35 88N G7
Jan 12 Thu 19:25 D 49 Aurigae 5.3 98+ 42 49N A0 ZC 1008
Jan 13 Fri 1:57 D ZC 1035 6.7 99+ 56 90S K3 Maybe close double
Jan 14 Sat 19:07 R lambda Cnc 5.9 99- 18 30N B9 ZC1251; term.dist.3"
Jan 19 Thu 4:36 R SAO 118942 7.2 79- 53 76N G5
Jan 24 Tue 6:41 R SAO 183537 7.3 31- 27 42N K0 Sun alt. -8 deg.
Jan 31 Tue 17:45 D ZC 3391 6.7 8+ 25 32N A0 Sun alt. -4 deg.
Jan 31 Tue 18:31 D ZC 3394 7.4 8+ 17 30N A0
Feb 2 Thu 20:42 D SAO 109533 7.4 26+ 21 47N K0
Feb 2 Thu 21:56 D ZC 132 6.7 26+ 8 50S G5 Azimuth 273 deg.
Feb 4 Sat 21:46 D ZC 397 7.5 48+ 35 87N B9 mag.2 7.4 3.3",PA119

D following the time denotes a disappearance, while R indicates that the
event is a reappearance. When a power (x; actually, zoom factor) is given
in the Notes, the event can probably be recorded directly with a camcorder
of that power with no telescope needed. The times are for Greenbelt, MD,
and will be good to within +/-1 min. for other locations in the Washington-
Baltimore metropolitan areas unless the cusp angle (CA) is less than 30
deg., in which case, it might be as much as 5 minutes different for other
locations across the region. Some stars in Flamsteed's catalog are in
the wrong constellation, according to the official IAU constellation
boundaries that were established well after Flamsteed's catalog was
published. In these cases, Flamsteed's constellation is in parentheses
and the actual constellation is given in the notes following a /.

Mag is the star's magnitude. % is the percent of the Moon's visible
disk that is sunlit, followed by a + indicating that the Moon is waxing
and - showing that it is waning. So 0 is new moon, 50+ is first quarter,
100+ or - is full moon, and 50- is last quarter. The Moon is crescent if
% is less than 50 and is gibbous if it is more than 50. Cusp Angle is
described more fully at the main IOTA Web site - see above. Sp. is
the star's spectral type (color), O,B,blue; A,F,white; G,yellow; K,orange;
M,N,S,C red. Also in the notes, information about double stars is often
given. "Close double" with no other information usually means nearly
equal components with a separation less than 0.2". "mg2" or "m2" means
the magnitude of the secondary component, followed by its separation in
arc seconds ("), and sometimes its PA from the primary. If there is a
3rd component (for a triple star), it might be indicated with "mg3" or
"m3". Double is sometime abbreviated "dbl". Sometimes the Watts angle
(WA) is given; it is aligned with the Moon's rotation axis and can be
used to estimate where a star will reappear relative to lunar features.
The selenographic latitude is WA -270. For example, WA 305 - 310 is near
Mare Crisium.

Currently, the IOTA occultation line, 301-474-4945, is not working.
Some additional information, including sometimes expedition updates,
especially over the weekend, can be found at the main IOTA Web site at
http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota . Also, see my Web site at
http://iota.jhuapl.edu .

Timing equipment and even telescopes can be loaned for most expeditions
that we actually undertake; we are always shortest of observers who can
fit these events in their schedule, so we hope that you might be able to.
Good luck with your observations.
_____________________________________

David Dunham, 2006 January 8
phones home 301-474-4722; office 240-228-5609; cell 301-526-5590


==================================================================
AstroAlert is a free service of SKY & TELESCOPE, the Essential
Magazine of Astronomy (http://SkyandTelescope.com/). This e-mail
was sent to AstroAlert subscribers. If you feel you received it
in error, or to unsubscribe from AstroAlert, please send a plain-
text e-mail to majordomo@SkyandTelescope.com with the following
line -- and nothing else -- in the body of the message:
unsubscribe occultation e-mail@address.com
replacing "e-mail@address.com" with your actual e-mail address.
==================================================================

SATURN OCCULTS A FAINT STAR

For observers in Europe, Africa, and Asia, an 8.2-magnitude star (SAO
98054) will be occulted by (passes behind) Saturn's ring system starting
at about 18:45 Universal Time January 25th. The star reappears out from
behind the planet itself around 20:55 UT.

==================================================================
This Is SKY & TELESCOPE's AstroAlert for Occultations
==================================================================

Events are listed in INVERSE chronological order; go to the bottom
of this message for the first event, then go up for later ones,
which are mostly better (which is why they are given first). We
need your help to map the profiles of the mountains of the polar
areas of the Moon, and measure the sizes and shapes of three
asteroids this week. Let us know your plans so that we can better
plan coverage of these events, so that mobile observers don't
duplicate your observation.

1. Good passage of the 61% sunlit Moon through the Pleiades Feb. 5/6
for observers throughout western North America. Detailed
predictions for total occultations for hundreds of cities, and
interactive detailed maps of many graze paths are now posted. One
of these is the spectacular grazing occultation of 3.7-mag. Electra
across Los Angeles and surrounding areas of southern California. I
plan to lead an expedition for that event; let me know if you might
be interested in joining it.

2. Occultation of an 11.3-mag. star by 485 Genua Friday evening,
Jan. 27, New Jersey to Calgary.

3. Occultation of a 10.0-mag. star by the relatively large asteroid
490 Veritas early Friday evening, Jan. 27, Carolinas to Kansas. We
especially need observers for this good event with a wide path with
good statistics. Let me know if you might be interested in joining
an expedition from the DC region to the Fayetteville, NC area to try
to observe it from a few separate locations.

4. Occultation of an 11.4-mag. star by the small asteroid
1012 Sarema tomorrow (Wed.) night, Jan. 25/26, New Jersey to
Washington State.

For the asteroidal occultations, small path maps, detailed finder
charts, and detailed updated path information is on Steve Preston's
Web site at http://www.asteroidoccultation.com . Very detailed maps
for these events can be found on Charlie Ridgway's interactive Web
page at http://digitalmagic.i8.com/Astronomy/Occultations/ that
links to the very detailed maps and satellite imagery of
maps.google.com with overlays of the occultation paths. To see when
the occultation will occur at your (or a nearby) location, the
probability for an occultation, and the altitudes of the star and
the Sun, and to help plan coverage, see the detailed station lists
on Derek Breit's Web site at
http://www.poyntsource.com/BREIT_IDEAS/index.htm . Please let Derek
know if you plan to observe so that he can indicate this on his
station list; his e-mail address is breit_ideas@hotmail.com .
Please copy to me for the Veritas occultation on Fri. evening.
The Web addresses here are general; specific ones for each event are
given below.

For saving and printing the maps on Charlie Ridgway's Web site, for
both asteroidal occultations and grazes, I've found (as advised by
James Thompson) that an effective way to do it is, once you have
maneuvered and zoomed in to the map area you want, hit the "prt sc"
(print screen) key. That saves your screen into memory that you can
then paste into a Word or Power Point file. But first you might
want to paste it into a utility like Microsoft Paint where you can
crop the image to include only the map area, and then paste that
into the Word or Power Point file.
__________________________________________________

1. The Moon, just a day past first quarter, will occult dozens of
stars in the Pleiades for observers throughout western North America
late Sunday night, February 5/6. The UT date is Feb. 6 for all
events, but it is late Sunday evening, or just after midnight, local
time. Extensive predictions of the total occultations are on the
main IOTA Web site at http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota or,
specifically for the occultations of the seven brightest Pleaides
stars predicted for hundreds of cities, including maps showing the
region of visibility of each occultation, see
http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/200...am/pleiadna.htm and
click on "view" for each event in the "predictions" column of the
table.
If you can locate yourself within a mile or two of the northern
or southern limits of the region of visibility of these
occultations, you can see a spectacular grazing occultation, with
the star disappearing and reappearing amoung mountains and craters
in the lunar polar regions. The northern limits of 4 3rd and 4th-
mag. stars during the Feb. 6 (UT) passage are shown on my map on p.
71 of this month's issue of Sky and Telescope. You can see these
and 4 other graze paths on Charlie Ridgway's Web site at
http://digitalmagic.i8.com/Astronomy/Occul...060206_M45.html
which is an interactive map that you can zoom in for much more
details, like the ones he has for asteroidal occultations.
I have captured and posted that map on my Web site in a Word file at
http://iota.jhuapl.edu/pld6fbna.doc (beware, the first page is
blank; the 2nd has the color code key; and the third page has the
map) and have some more detailed maps of the Electra graze path
across southern California in another Word file at
http://iota.jhuapl.edu/6fbelect.doc . For the individual grazes,
it's better to go to Charlie's general Pleiades graze page at
http://digitalmagic.i8.com/Astronomy/Occul...Grazes/M45.html
and click on the link for the graze for which you want more details.
Then you can see the plot with an offset distance in km that you can
specify. Also on the page for each event, below the map, is the
table of WinOccult predictions (in a zipped Word file) for the
event; you can use it to tell the U.T. of central graze at your
longitude, as well as the altitude and azimuth of the Moon, and
other information.

Later I will give some advice for some of these events
about where the best area will be relative to the limit lines shown,
and to correct them for height above sea level (they shift south as
your height increases). If you are planning an expedition to
observe one of these, let me know at dunham@starpower.net and I'll
include an estimate of the best offset for your area.

The graze of 9 Tauri, visible along a path from northern Baja
California to Louisiana and the only southern-limit graze, actually
occurs a few hours before the Pleiades passage but is included since
it occurs the same night. The grazes are listed below; there are
some other grazes of 8th-mag. stars that won't be as easy, but
predictions can be made available for them, too.

R west Approximate
ZC# mag. # Lim U.T. path location Star name

521 6.7 30 S 2:36 n. Baja Calif. - Louisiana 9 Tauri
537 3.7 31 N 8:01 s. Calif. - n. Mexico Electra = 17 Tauri
545 4.1 32 N 8:21 Brit. Columbia - S. Dakota Merope = 23 Tauri
549 6.3 33 N 9:03 n. Calif. - Arizona 24 Tauri
551 7.4 -- N 8:46 Alberta - Saskatchewan
552 2.9 34 N 9:06 s.w. Oregon - Arizona Alcyone = eta Tauri
560 3.6 35 N 9:37 Brit. Columbia - Montana Atlas = 27 Tauri
561 5.0 36 N 9:47 Oregon - Nevada Pleione = 28 Tauri

The first column gives the star's Zodiacal Catalog number. The 3rd
column, "R#", is the number of the graze line on the lower map on
p. 164 of the 2006 RASC Observer's Handbook. "Lim" tells whether
the graze is a northern-limit or southern-limit graze (all except
the first one, ZC 521, are northern limits). "west U.T." gives the
Universal Time of 2006 Feb. 6 at the western end of the path,
usually near the Pacific coast; the time is always later farther
east. Note that the times are of central graze; the graze will last
2 - 4 minutes, so observers should start watching 2 to 3 minutes
before the central graze time for their area.
__________________________________________________

2. Occultation of 11.3-mag. UCAC2 31310997 by 64-km 485 Genua Friday
evening, Jan. 27. Note that the UT date is Jan. 28 for all
observers, but the local date is Jan. 27 across North America. The
path crosses central New Jersey, and from Philadelphia to Erie,
Penn. at 2:00 UT (9:00 pm EST); at 2:01 UT, over s. Ont. (just n. of
London), central lower Mich., and Door Peninsula, Wisconsin; at 2:02
UT (8:02 am CST), over n.w. Wisc., n. Minn. (Duluth in path), and
n.e. N. Dakota (Grand Forks); at 2:03 UT (7:03 am MST), over s.
Sask. (Regina just n. of path but could have an occultation) and
southern Alberta (Calgary just s. of path but could have an event).
Accuweather forecasts less than 40% cirrus for New Jersey; I haven't
checked other areas.

The star is at J2000 R.A. 7h 27m 18.4s, Dec. -01 deg. 26' 05", in
Monoceros about 7 deg. s.s.w. of Procyon, 4 deg. s. of delta 1 Canis
Minoris, and 0.6 deg. northwest of a 6th-mag. star.

Steve Preston's link for this event is
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2006_01/0128_485_4863.htm while
Charlie Ridgway's interactive maps site is
http://digitalmagic.i8.com/Astronomy/Occul...0128_Genua.html

and Derek Breit's station list is at
http://www.poyntsource.com/BREIT_IDEAS/Genua.htm .
__________________________________________________

3. Occultation of 10.0-mag. TYC 0736-00356-1 by the 116-km asteroid
490 Veritas early Friday evening, Jan. 27. Note that the UT date is
Jan. 28 for all observers, but the local date is Jan. 27 across
North America. The path crosses southern North Carolina
(Fayetteville and Charlotte are near the center) at 0:49 UT (7:49 pm
EST), Tennessee (Nashville at center) and southern Missouri at 0:50
UT (6:50 pm CST), and southern Kansas (Wichita near center) at 0:51
UT. Accuweather is forecasting dry conditions with only about 20%
cirrus in s.e. North Carolina; I haven't checked other areas yet.
If that good forecast holds, I'll try to observe this event myself,
and want to coordinate my plans with others. I hope to leave the DC
region by 10 am EST Friday.

The star is at J2000 R.A. 6h 23m 55.5s, Dec. +11 deg. 02' 05", in
Orion about 8 deg. e.n.e. of Betelgeuse, and near where the Orion -
Gemini - Monoceros borders meet. The target star should be fairly
easy to find, being 2 deg. s.e. of 5th-mag. 73 and 74 Orionis, about
25' w.s.w. of a distinctive group of 7th-mag. stars, and only 7'
n.n.e. of an 8th-mag. star.

Steve Preston's link for this event is
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2006_01/0128_490_4862.htm while
Charlie Ridgway's interactive maps site is
http://digitalmagic.i8.com/Astronomy/Occul...28_Veritas.html

and Derek Breit's station list is at
http://www.poyntsource.com/BREIT_IDEAS/Veritas.htm .
Two mobile observers and one fixed-site one (John Graves in
Nashville) have said they will try this event and are indicated by
by color-code in Derek's list at the above Web site. I'll
distribute a list of planned sites to better plan for this event
in a couple of days, certainly by Thursday evening.
__________________________________________________

4. Occultation of an 11.4-mag. star by the 21-km asteroid
1012 Sarema tomorrow (Wed.) night, Jan. 25/26, New Jersey to
Washington State. Note that the UT date is Jan. 26 for all
observers, but the local date is Jan. 25 across North America.
The path crosses central New Jersey at 4:41 UT (11:41 pm EST),
then over Pennsylvania to just s. of Erie at 4:43 UT, over Detroit
at 4:44 UT, across southern Wisconsin (just north of Milwaukee,
which could have an occultation) at 4:46 UT (10:46 pm CST), over
southern Minnesota (s. of Minneapolis) at 4:47 UT, northern South
Dakota at 4:49, Montana from 4:51 to 4:54 (9:51 to 9:54 MST), and
over Washington State, near Yakima and Olympia, around 4:56 UT (8:56
pm PST). Astro Meteo (Clear Sky Clock) forecasts mosty clear in New
Jersey, then partly to mostly cloudy across eastern Penn., and
overcast in n.w. Penn., mostly cloudy in s. Ont., clear in the
Detroit area (?), but mostly cloudy across the rest of Michigan;
then clear from Wisconsin to S. Dakota, partly cloudy across
Montana, and mostly cloudy over Washington.

The star, TYC 1872-00305-1, is at J2000 R.A. 6h 03m 07.4s, Dec. +27
deg. 08' 21", in Gemini near the Taurus border about 3 deg. north
and a little west of M35.

Steve Preston's link for this event is
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2006_01...6_1012_7079.htm while
Charlie Ridgway's interactive maps site is
http://digitalmagic.i8.com/Astronomy/Occul...126_Sarema.html

and Derek Breit's station list is at
http://www.poyntsource.com/BREIT_IDEAS/Sarema.htm .
__________________________________________________

David Dunham, IOTA
home dunham@starpower.net 301-474-4722 cell 301-526-5590
office david.dunham@jhuapl.edu 240-228-5609


==================================================================
AstroAlert is a free service of SKY & TELESCOPE, the Essential
Magazine of Astronomy (http://SkyandTelescope.com/). This e-mail
was sent to AstroAlert subscribers. If you feel you received it
in error, or to unsubscribe from AstroAlert, please send a plain-
text e-mail to majordomo@SkyandTelescope.com with the following
line -- and nothing else -- in the body of the message:
unsubscribe occultation e-mail@address.com
replacing "e-mail@address.com" with your actual e-mail address.
==================================================================

I've yet to have any luck observing an occultation. If it's not the weather then it's not visible in this location, or it occurs at some ungodly hour like 1:13 a.m...

The moon occulting Venus or Jupiter would be a great "first."

LAUNCH ALERT

Brian Webb
Ventura County, California
E-mail: kd6nrp@earthlink.net
Web Site: http://www.spacearchive.info

2006 February 3 (Friday) 19:15 PST
----------------------------------------------------------------------

PLEIADES OCCULTATIONS

Chances are you have noticed the faint, close grouping of stars known
as the Pleiades glittering in the winter sky. This Sunday night-Monday
morning (February 5-6), the first quarter Moon passes through the
Pleiades for observers on the West Coast and Hawaii.

Using a small telescope or binoculars, skywatchers can watch the Moon
eclipse (or, as astronomers call it, "occult" from Latin "to hide")
members of the star cluster. Whether the Moon occults a given star, as
well as the disappearance and reappearance times, varies depending on
location.

>From downtown Los Angeles, the stars Merope, Alcyone, Atlas, and
Pleione disappear at 00:16, 00:56, 01:30, and 01:36 PST (08:16, 08:56,
09:30, and 09:36 UTC), respectively. The reappearances of Merope and
Alcyone will be difficult to see due to the Moon's low elevation and
because they emerge on the Moon's daylight side. Pleione and Atlas
reappear after moonset.

For the disappearance and reappearance times of the brightest Pleiades
for other cities, use the following links:

www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/2006plnam/0206zc537.htm
www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/2006plnam/0206zc552.htm
www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/2006plnam/0206zc560.htm
www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/2006plnam/0206zc561.htm

Of particular interest is the gazing occultation of Electra. The Moon
will barely occult or graze the star within an extremely narrow zone
that runs through southern California. Suitably equipped observers
within the path may be able to alternately see the star disappear
behind mountains and shine through valleys on the Moon's north pole.

Occultation enthusiasts have identified northern Somis, California as
a prime location for observing the graze. The narrow path also passes
over Thousand Oaks, part of Los Angeles, and northern Orange County,
as well as other locations from south of Santa Maria to the southern
Imperial Valley.

Detailed maps, information about a planned expedition to northeastern
Orange County, and other information is available at
http://iota.jhuapl.edu/plds6feb.htm.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright © 2006 Brian Webb. All rights reserved. This newsletter may
be distributed in its entirety without restriction. Excerpts may be
not be reprinted or posted elsewhere without prior permission.

_______________________________________________

To subscribe or unsubscribe from this newsletter, go to:

http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/launch-alert

Questions and comments regarding this newsletter and editorial contributions
should be directed to kd6nrp@earthlink.net

HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS WEEK'S SKY

* First-quarter Moon on February 5th.

* The Moon, just past first quarter, occults several of the Pleiades stars
on Sunday night, February 5-6, for Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast.

* Venus (magnitude -4.4, in northern Sagittarius) is rapidly climbing into
good view during dawn; look for it low in the east-southeast. A telescope
shows that it's a thickening crescent.

http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/atagl...ticle_110_1.asp

Science/Astronomy:

* Moon Mugging: Bright Star Blocked by Lunar Lout

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/060210_moon_spica.html

For many locales, the Moon will either be below the horizon when Spica vanishes
behind the Moon's bright limb, or will lie very close to the east-southeast
horizon, and likely dimmed by horizon haze.

Australians will get to see the Moon occult Antares on February 22.

==== IN THE SKY THIS WEEK ===

The Last Quarter Moon is Tuesday February 21. In the early evening, ruddy
Mars is in the north-west sky, very close to the beautiful Pleiades cluster,
easily visible together in binoculars. In the late evening, Saturn is easily
spotted as a pale gold object, brighter than any nearby stars in the middle
region of the northern sky. Jupiter rises just before midnight and can be
seen high in the eastern morning sky, close to the brightest star in Libra.
On Monday February 20 Jupiter is close to the waning Moon. On the morning of
Wednesday February 22 people in WA, NT and SA will see the Moon pass in
front of the bright red star Antares. Venus is brilliant in the dawn sky.
Comet A1 Pojmanski is now visible in binoculars, close to Sagittarius, if
you get up around 4-5 am. See Southern Sky Watch for details.

http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm

Planet Saturn was close but cloudy and very cold weather here in Germany!

GLOBE at Night is starting!

The time has come - March 22nd, 2006 will be "rolling" into your time
zone soon (it already has in the New Zealand Time Zone). GLOBE at Night
is starting!

We are very excited as this international star-hunting party begins.
Remember, participation is open to anyone - anywhere in the world - who
can get outside and look skyward during March 22-29, 2006! There is no
special training or instruction required. All information needed to
participate can be found at http://www.globe.gov/globeatnight.

The online observation report form is active and awaiting observations.

Help us reach our goal of 5000 observations from around the globe!

Don't forget, you can do more than one observation by selecting a new
location. Multiple observations may be conducted and reported on the
same evening between 7:00-9:00 p.m. local time or on another evening
between March 22 - 29, 2006. Visit

http://www.globe.gov/GaN/report_mult.html for more details.

As this campaign progresses, check the Web site
(http://www.globe.gov/globeatnight) to see the mapped results and the
running total of observations reported.

Let's get out and observe the night sky!

Sincerely,

GLOBE at Night Team


******************************
GLOBE at Night is collaboratively sponsored by The GLOBE Program, the
National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Windows to the Universe, CADIAS
and ESRI. Visit our Web site at http://www.globe.gov/globeatnight or
contact us through email at globeatnight@globe.gov.

BLOG - CHASING THE SUN

Darren Osborne is off to Turkey to watch next Wednesday's solar eclipse.

Follow his escapades as he prepares for the trip, and log in over the next
couple of days for photos, videos and an on the ground account of watching
one of nature's most incredible sights. The total solar eclipse occurs at
10.00 pm AEST. It's not visible in Australia, but you can watch it online.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/features/turkisheclipse/

Space Weather News for March 28, 2006

http://spaceweather.com

Parts of Brazil, Africa, Turkey, central Asia and Mongolia: These are places
where people can see a total eclipse of the sun on Wednesday, March 29th. A
partial eclipse will be visible over a much wider area, including all of Europe.
Astronauts onboard the International Space Station will have the rarest view of
all. The station is due to pass over Turkey while the eclipse is in progress
there, giving astronauts a magnificent view—not of the sun, but of the moon's
cool shadow.

Visit spaceweather.com for full coverage, including an animated eclipse map,
links to live webcasts, and a simulated view from the International Space
Station.

I'll try and hunt for all the usual orbital imagery of this as it happens ( Modis on Aqua and Terra, Meteosat etc )

Doug

ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS

2006 April

Computed for Los Angeles, California

Time
Date (PST/PDT) Event
-------- --------- -----------------------------

APR 1-2 --- Dark Sky Weekend
Best time this month to observe faint objects. Amateur astronomers may
hold observing sessions at dark sites

APR 2 02:00 Time Change
Daylight Savings Time begins. Set clocks ahead one hour

APR 3 12:36 Lunar Conjunction
The Moon passes 3.5° north of Mars. Time of closest approach and
separation computed for the Earth's center and may vary significantly
depending on your location

APR 5 05:01 First Quarter Moon
Moon rises at noon and sets at midnight

APR 6 16:14 Lunar Conjunction
The Moon passes 4.0° north of Saturn. Time of closest approach and
separation computed for the Earth's center and may vary significantly
depending on your location

APR 8 11:39 Mercury Western Elongation
Elusive Mercury attains its greatest angular separation from the Sun
and is visible low in the east at dawn.

APR 13 09:40 Full Moon
Moon rises at sunset, sets at sunrise, and is visible all night

APR 15 08:19 Lunar Conjunction
The Moon passes 5.2° south of Jupiter. Time of closest approach and
separation computed for the Earth's center and may vary significantly
depending on your location

APR 17 01:40 Lunar Conjunction
The Moon passes 0.2° north of Antares. Time of closest approach and
separation computed for the Earth's center and may vary significantly
depending on your location

APR 20 20:28 Last Quarter Moon
Moon rises at midnight and sets at noon

APR 24 06:36 Lunar Conjunction
The Moon passes ~0.5° south of Venus. Time of closest approach and
separation computed for the Earth's center and may vary significantly
depending on your location

APR 27 12:44 New Moon
Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun and is invisible. Moon rises
at sunrise and sets at sunset

APR 29-30 --- Dark Sky Weekend
Best time this month to observe faint objects. Amateur astronomers may
hold observing sessions at dark sites

I'm surprised no one mentioned the Pleiades occultation this past Saturday night. In between the occasional clouds, I had a lovely view of Maia and Alcyone disappearing. Maia was so close to the north edge of the moon that I thought at first it was going to be a graze (from the Washington DC area).

The Luna-Pleiades occultation event was clouded out for me, but Spaceweather.com
does have a nice collection of photos here:

http://spaceweather.com/eclipses/gallery_01apr06.htm

And they have a big collection of total solar eclipse images here:

http://spaceweather.com/eclipses/gallery_29mar06.htm

The Maia graze was indeed spectacular from Bowie, Maryland. I was at the edge of the graze path, and timed several disappearances as part of an IOTA expedition.

Michael

This Saturday, May 6, is Astronomy Day.

Learn more about Astronomy Day and check for events in your area:

http://www.astroleague.org/al/astroday/astroday.html

One wonderful bit of timing: The breaking up Comet 73P/Schwassmann
Wachmann 3 will be just north of the Ring Nebula (aka Messier 57) in
the constellation of Lyra the Lyre on Astronomy Day! Plus the eta
Aquarid meteor shower will be peaking on Saturday.

NASA Science News for May 30, 2006

Something remarkable is about to happen in the evening sky. Three planets and a star cluster are converging for a close encounter you won't want to miss.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/30....htm?list161084

ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS

2006 June

Computed for Los Angeles, California

Time
Date (PST/PDT) Event
--------- --------- -----------------------------

JUN 3 16:06 First Quarter Moon
Moon rises at noon and sets at midnight

JUN 7 01:46 Lunar Conjunction
The Moon passes 0.1° south of Spica. Time of closest approach and
separation computed for the Earth's center and may vary significantly
depending on your location

JUN 11 11:03 Full Moon
Moon rises at sunset, sets at sunrise, and is visible all night

JUN 17-24 --- Star Party
Grand Canyon Star Party. http://www.tucsonastronomy.org/gcsp.html

JUN 18 07:08 Last Quarter Moon
Moon rises at midnight and sets at noon

JUN 20 13:11 Mercury Eastern Elongation
Elusive Mercury attains its greatest angular separation from the Sun
and is visible low in the west at dusk.

JUN 21-24 --- Star Party
6th Annual Bryce Canyon Astronomy Festival.
http://www.nps.gov/brca/astronomy_programs.html

JUN 21-26 --- Star Party
Shingletown Star Party. Shingletown, CA
http://shingletownstarparty.org/

JUN 22-25 --- Star Party
Rocky Mountain Star Stare (Colorado)
http://shingletownstarparty.org/

JUN 24-25 --- Dark Sky Weekend
Best time this month to observe faint objects. Amateur astronomers may
hold observing sessions at dark sites

JUN 25 09:05 New Moon
Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun and is invisible. Moon rises
at sunrise and sets at sunset

From Spaceweather.com:

On Thursday, June 15th, the planet Mars will glide through the Beehive star cluster, producing a beautiful display for backyard telescopes. It will look as if a red supernova (Mars) has gone off inside the cluster. Mars is easy to find in the western sky shortly after sunset; it's right beside the planet Saturn. [sky map] [full story]