Astroblog: Occultation of Delta Scorpii, June 3, 2023

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Occultation of Delta Scorpii, June 3, 2023


Evening sky on Saturday, June 3 looking east as seen from Adelaide at 17:59 ACST showing the Moon and Delta Scorpii, just as the Moon is about to cover it. The inset shows the telescopic view of The Moon at 18:52, as the Moon moves off delta Scorpii. Click to embiggen	Evening sky on Saturday, June 3 looking east as seen from Melbourne at 18:33 AEST showing the Moon and Delta Scorpii, just as the Moon is about to cover it. The inset shows the telescopic view of The Moon at 19:29, as the Moon moves off delta Scorpii. Click to embiggen	Evening sky on Saturday, June 3 looking east as seen from Sydney at 18:26 AEST showing the Moon and Delta Scorpii, just as the Moon is about to cover it. The inset shows the telescopic view of The Moon at 19:28, as the Moon moves off delta Scorpii. Click to embiggen

On the evening of June 3, the bright star delta Scorpii (Dschubba) in the head of the Scorpion is occulted by the Moon in the early evening just on Nautical twilight. Ingress is low to the horizon and will be hard telescopically, but reappearance an hour later should be viewable.

The occultation occurs with the Moon low above the horizon at the start for the eastern states, although higher the further north you are. South Australia has a reasonable view but Darwin and Perth miss out, although delta Scorprii will be seen near by the Moon. Disappearance and appearance times are given in the table below.

While the occultation is visible to the unaided eye, the sight will be better in binoculars or a small telescope (the low hight above the horizon may make it difficult for telescopes to point down that low). Set up ahead of time so that you can be sure everything is working well and you can watch the entire event comfortably. delta Scorpii will be clearly visible to the unaided eye near the Moon.

Delta Scorpii (Dschubba) reappears about an hour later, when the Moon is much higher and better for telescopic viewing.

To the west, Venus forms a line with the bright stars Castor and Pollux and Mars is in the heart of the Beehive cluster.

Place	Moon rise	Disappears Dark Limb	Reappears Bright Limb	Astronomical Twilight	Sunset
Adelaide ACST	16:16	17:59	18:52	18:42	17:12
Brisbane AEST	16:05	18:18	19:17	18:24	17:00
Canberra AEST	16:02	18:28	19:28	18:29	16:59
Darwin ACST	17:35	-	-	19:44	18:28
Hobart AEST	15:47	18:42	19:38	18:27	16:45
Melbourne AEST	16:12	18:33	19:29	18:42	17:09
Perth AWST	16:27	-	-	18:46	17:20
Sydney AEST	15:57	18:26	19:28	18:22	16:54