Received this from a friend, Thank you Gene.
There is a lunar grazing occultation of a
6th magnitude star predicted
on Thursday evening, April 11th visible
in the Phoenix area (weather
permitting).
This is a northern limit graze, visible
along and south of a line
crossing the south side of Gilbert, AZ
(for instance). The limit line
passes from NW to SE roughly paralleling
the railroad tracks in the
east
part of the valley (and of course, extending
across the state and the
western U.S.). Observers along or slightly
south of, within about 1-2
miles of the limit line may see the star wink
in and out behind the
mountains on the north limb (end) of the Moon,
beginning at about 04:25
UT (21:25 local time MST).
Observers north of the line will see the Moon
pass by the star without
an occultation, and observers farther south of
the limit line will see
a
total occultation.
The path of visiblity for the graze zone is
only about 1-2 miles deep,
and depends strongly upon the observer's
exact position. For instance,
the predicted limit passes across Gerry
Rattley's house several blocks
west of Gilbert Rd., next to Elliott Rd.,
but will miss the GRCO dome
further east and north in Gilbert at the
Riparian Water Park (near
Guadelupe and Greenfield Roads), passing
several miles south.
More information is generally available on
the IOTA web pages:
http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/iotandx.htm
Observers subscribing to IOTA services can
receive annual prediction
packages (lunar and asteroidal occultations)
for their individual
location.
Gene Lucas
Terri, Events Coordinator
Email: Events@PASAz.org
Phoenix Astronomical Society
