Monday, September 02, 2019
Occultation of Saturn, Sunday-Monday, 8-9 September 2019.
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| The Moon at 00:02am ACST in Alice Springs on Monday 9 September just before Saturn disappears. The inset shows the telescopic view as just before Saturn disappears behind the Moon (click to embiggen). | The Moon at 00:50 am AEST in Cairns on Monday 9 September just before Saturn disappears. The inset shows the telescopic view as just before Saturn disappears behind the Moon (click to embiggen). | The Moon at 22:00pm AWST in Perth on Sunday 8 September just before Saturn disappears. The inset shows the telescopic view as just before Saturn disappears behind the Moon (click to embiggen). |
On the late evening of Sunday 8 September to early morning 9 September Saturn is occulted by the waxing Moon as seen from northern Australia north of of a line from Perth to north of Rockhampton.
The Moon, above the western horizon, is a very obvious signpost for where to look. From most locations the occultation starts around midnight, with central and eastern locations occurring on the morning of the 9th, and western on the late evening of the 8th.
Saturn may be hard to spot visually against the glare of the Moon but is readily visible in telescopes and binoculars. In some locations titan is occulted as well (Alice Springs 00:09, Broome 22:32, Cairns, 00:53, Darwin 00:05, Perth 22:03, Townsville 00:57). Start watching about half an hour beforehand to get set up and familiar with the sky.
Saturn will disappear behind the dark limb of the Moon at a reasonable height for telescopic observation. Reappearance will be hard to see as you have to be looking just at the right moment.
In the rest of Australia the Moon and Saturn will be very close. In southern Australia the Moon and Saturn will be visible together in telescopic eyepieces. In Rockhampton Saturn will just miss the Moon.
Start watching about half an hour beforehand to get set up and familiar with the sky. Saturn will disappear behind the dark limb of the Moon at a reasonable height for telescopic observation.
Reappearance will be harder to see as you have to be looking just at the right moment.
| Place | Disappears Dark Limb | Reappears Bright Limb |
| Alice Springs ACST | 00:07 | 1:02 |
| Brisbane AEST | - | - |
| Broome AWST | 22:16 | 23:38 |
| Carins AEST | 00:52 | 1:44 |
| Canberra AEST | - | - |
| Darwin ACST | 00:06 | 01:19 |
| Hobart AEST | - | - |
| Melbourne AEST | - | - |
| Perth AWST | 22:01 | 23:02 |
| Sydney AEST | - | - |
| Rockhampton AEST | - | - |
| Townsville AEST | 00:55 | 01:38 |
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 10:30 pm 
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