Astroblog: Occultation of Zavijava (Beta Virginis) by the Moon, February 25, 2016

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Occultation of Zavijava (Beta Virginis) by the Moon, February 25, 2016

The evening sky facing east in Adelaide on February 25 at 4:45 am ACDST showing the waning Moon just about to cover Zavijava (Beta Virginis). (similar views will be seen from other central and eastern locations at a similar local time eg 5:27 AEDST Canberra). The inset shows a telescopic view of the Moon at 4:45 am ACDST, with Zavijava about to go behind the Moon.

The waning Moon passes in front of the moderately bright Zavijava (Beta Virginis) in the constellation of Virgo on the morning of February 25. Zavijava is a brightish white star visible to the unaided eye (magnitude 3.6). The occultation will be seen from Eastern Australia and Central Australia. For Eastern Australia the occultation begins around Astronomical twilight, and ends near civil twilight or sunrise (Brisbane))

With the Moon at just past full, this event is really best seen with binoculars or a small telescope (especially for the reappearance of the star in the twilight). If you have a tripod or other stand for your binoculars, it will be much easier to observe. Set up about half an hour before the occultation to watch the star disappear (so you are not mucking around with equipment at the last moment).

City	Disappears behind bright limb	Reappears from dark limb
Australia
Adelaide (ACDST)	04:50	05:37
Brisbane (AEST)	04:22	05:38
Canberra (AEDST)	05:27	06:25
Darwin (ACST)	02:52	04:27
Alice Springs (ACST)	03:15	04:42
Hobart (AEDST)	--	05:52 (grazing)
Melbourne (AEDST)	05:31	06:11
Perth (AWST)	--	--
Sydney (AEDST)	05:26	06:30

Labels: binocular, Moon, Occultation, unaided eye

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 8:44 pm

Comments:

As always, thanks for the info and the blog Ian. Just tried capturing the unveiling this morning, from Sydney, this was around 6:31:09am;

http://sketchdigital.com.au/zavijava_occultation_sydney_2016_crop.jpg

# posted by