Celestial Perspective

A small cow in a field nearby occulting the Solar System's largest planet, which is very far away

This weekend, between 2.50 and 3.10 am, in the early hours of Sunday July 15th, Jupiter and its retinue of Galilean Moons will be occulted or eclipsed by the Moon.  From our location in East Anglia, we will see the tiny disc of Jupiter appear to skim and disappear behind a large crescent Moon. In reality, Jupiter is many many times larger than the Moon but much much further away.


A Lesson in Perspective for Father Dougal given by Father Ted


Father Ted: Now concentrate this time, Dougal. These 
[he points to some plastic cows on the table] 
Father Ted: are very small; those 
[pointing at some cows out of the window] 
Father Ted: are far away...


"I'm not sure I got that Ted"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vbd3E6tK2U


Sadly, the Moon will not rise above the horizon in our part of the world until 1.36am British Summer Time and consequently will be very low in the sky during the occultation.
For Moon rise and setting times at your location see:
http://www.sunrisesunsetmap.com/

From the website Astronomy Occultations

My main telescope is located in my backyard and too big for me to move. There are trees and houses between our house and the eastern horizon, so unfortunately, the Moon will not be visible from our garden until long after the occultation has finished.

If the weather is good, I will stay up and try to glimpse this astronomical event through my binoculars.
A pair of 10x50 binoculars will provide a very good view and should show Jupiter's four main moons as pinpricks of light..

The occultation of the major planets by the moon is not that rare and since 2002, I have seen both Jupiter and Saturn occulted by the Moon.  I have never managed to photograph such an event so have included this excellent image from the Web.

If you are up and about in the early hours of Sunday morning why not check out the Moon and the bright looking star nearby (Jupiter). It should be a splendid sight even without a telescope or binoculars,