Why the moon's Aldebaran occultation all that spooky
Late Tuesday night, the star Aldebaran appeared to vanish, as the moon passed directly in front of it.
Late Tuesday night, the star Aldebaran appeared to vanish, as the moon passed directly in front of it.
Just shy of Halloween, the moon has completed a strange cosmic ritual with the eye of Taurus.
Late Tuesday night, the star Aldebaran, the fiery eye of the bull constellation, was occulted by the moon. Occultations, in astronomical terms, occur when one celestial body passes between Earth and another cosmic object, hiding the latter from view.
Spectators in the eastern half of the United States could view the cosmic event through simple telescopes. As the waning gibbous moon moved across the sky, Aldebaran disappeared behind it. Later, having passed through the moon鈥檚 dark limb, the star appeared to materialize out of thin air.
Lunar occultations are relatively common, as any bright star with an ecliptic latitude of less than 6.5 degrees may cross the moon鈥檚 path. In addition to Aldebaran, first-magnitude stars Regulus, Spica, and Antares are regularly occulted.
Aldebaran, or Alpha Tauri, lies some 65 light years away from Earth, forming the bright eye of the constellation Taurus. Despite its lower surface temperature, this orange giant is over 150 times brighter than our sun and almost 40 times wider, EarthSky notes:
Occultations of specific stars occur in cycles. The current Aldebaran 鈥渟eries鈥� began in January 2015 with an occultation visible from the Arctic regions. Stargazers in parts of North America and Hawaii will see another on Dec. 12-13, and a fourth Aldebaran occultation will occur in September 2018. The next Aldebaran series won鈥檛 begin until August 2033, Space.com reported.
Planetary occultations are more rare, and a bit more spectacular than their lunar counterparts. In the time between 1702 and 2016, there have only been nine. The most recent occurred in 1818, when Venus passed in front of Jupiter. The two planets won鈥檛 meet again until Earth鈥檚 next occultation show 鈥� in 2065.