The Lunar Occultation of Antares

Jan 8, 2024 pre-dawn

 

You could not ask for a more favorable circumstance for an Antares Occultation. On a skinny 11% waning moon, under clear skies, and as a waning moon, you get to see the blue secondary star reappear first and stay out for a good 7 sec before brilliant red Antares comes out. And on a thin moon, Earthshine is prominent. And, the moon was in (wide) conjunction with Venus as well. I looked for photo possibilities of dramatic backgrounds; the Santa Cruz light house? But too lit by streetlights and the angle was wrong, with the cypress trees in Lighthouse Field. The Walton lighthouse? It would require setting up far away from the car, taking heavy equipment across wet sand, and with sketchy stability of tripods. I elected instead to go to upper UCSC meadow bike crossing, and get the moon rising over redwood trees, and above any moisture in the air lurking beneath 1,000 ft elevation. It worked out very well. I brought the GTF81 400mm telescope on tripod, and my long zoom lens. Both would be backed by the Nikon D7000 camera, which has a video mode.

Richard Nolthenius

I don't think there was much science to be involved here, so we focused on getting great photos.

         
         

 

Kirk Bender

Kirk would use the 8SE scope as well as his iPhone 13 and eyepiece mount. His video is great, published here on YouTube.