Occultations

As the moon moves across our sky, it passes in front of many stars. Sometimes it passes in front of planets. These events are called occultations. Because the moon can be rather bright itself, astronomers usually pay attention to the occulations of brighter objects that can be more easily seen next to the moon. However, when the moon's in a crescent phase, it's much easier to see the beginning or end of an occultation involving a dimmer object. A star being occulted will typically seem to blink off or on. But the moon's disk covers a planet's disk gradually.

Below are times and dates in Universal Time for lunar occultations involving several planets and some bright stars from 2020 to 2039. Not all occultations of objects listed below appear here. Daytime events have been excluded. Thus, no occultations of Mercury, which stays close to the sun, are listed. Also, the moon occults many more objects than can be listed here. Anyone interested in occultations involving other objects should visit the International Occultations Timing Assocation website. The association coordinates observing for asteroids passing in front of stars, which helps determine shapes and sizes for asteroids not easily observed through telescopes and radar imaging. The association's WinOccult software is excellent for producing visibility maps.

Dates and times are in Universal Time for the most central conjunction of the objects. Local circumstances vary, so the event may be earlier or later for any given point on Earth. And no occultation is visible from everywhere on Earth.