One of the best bright star lunar occultations for 2024 occurs this week, as the Moon covers Spica.<\/em><\/p>\n Have you ever seen the Moon blot out a star? If the weather cooperates, early morning viewers across eastern North America have a chance to see a rare spectacle, as the crescent Moon occults (covers) the bright star Spica.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The event is centered on the early morning hours of Wednesday, November 27th<\/sup> at 12:16 Universal Time (UT)\/7:16 AM EST\/6:16 AM CST. The International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA) has a list of ingress\/egress times for select sites in the occultation footprint. The IOTA also has a more technical discussion of the event here. The Moon is a -13% illuminated, waning crescent (just four days from New) during the event, meaning that Spica will ingress on the daytime lit side, and egress along the nighttime dark limb of the Moon.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a strange celestial scene: like during a total solar eclipse, you\u2019re standing in the shadow of the Moon\u2026 but in this case, it\u2019s \u2018cast\u2019 by +1st magnitude Spica\u2026 from 250 light-years away. Also known as Alpha Virginis as the brightest star in the constellation Virgo, Spica also holds the distinction of a contender for a nearby galactic supernova event in the far future.<\/p>\n Occultations are interesting and important to astronomers, as they give us a chance to analyze both objects involved. In the case of the star, we might notice the teeny angular diameter as it winks out, perhaps briefly revealing a faint secondary companion. In the case of Spica, its apparent size is 0.906 milliarcseconds, and is a spectroscopic binary with a close companion star in a close four day orbit.<\/p>\nWhen to Watch<\/h2>\n
The \u2018Wow Factor\u2019 <\/h2>\n
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