Moon Occults Eps Gem
I read the Moon Occults Eps Gem posting on cloudy nights with some interest. You see, one part of this astronomy hobby that has always bugged me is that I’m not doing science. I’m just looking at pretty things, or far away things, or things that are hard to see. And sure, observational science is still science but I always got the feeling that with my equipment that More Could Be Done. I know all about the variable star observing that AAVSO does, but that’s just not my cup of tea. And I don’t have the patience or stamina to go comet or super nova hunting.
So when I read about the occultation in Gemini I thought that I could take a timing on it. That would be real data. (It remains to be seen if that is even useful data, what could it be used for? To determine the position of the moon? That’s dumb, Neil Amstrong left behind a retroreflector array, a 2 foot wide panel with 100 mirrors on it.)
But still, a data point is a data point so I was doubly excited to check the weather forecast and find out that it would be clear that night. I notified both my clubs, this was especially exciting for Cape Cod Astronomical Society since that was the same night as our monthly meeting. I would be at the Werner Schmidt observatory already!
The next question was if I should observe this with a telescope or take pictures and observe with binoculars. With the telescope I could track Ep Gem and watch the moon’s night side slowly creep up on it. But then I couldn’t photograph it.
How would I take an accurate time measurement? This one was easy, my GPS records the time that a waypoint is created, so I just had to hit the Mark button and the time would be recorded for me.
So of course on Thursday morning the forecast had changed to Mostly Cloudy so I was resigned to missing it. After our astronomy society meeting I took a few people out to the observing field to try and do some binocular observing but the clouds covered about 80% of the sky and the rest was hazy. It was pretty nasty so we called it a night. I was able to see Ep Gem close to the moon, but that was about all.
But during my hour long drive home I noticed that the stars were out again, the sky had cleared!
I got home around 11pm and checked, I could see Ep Gem closer that it had been 50 minutes earlier.
I thought about getting a telescope out and decided not too. It was late, I was cold and tired and there were clouds to the north.
I put fresh batteries in the GPS and got in my lawn chair around 11:25 to wait for the event which should be in about 20 minutes.
It is hard holding up heavy binoculars for that long a time! I needed to bring in my legs to rest my arms on them. I clutched the GPS in my right hand, thumb on the Mark button, ready to press it the moment the star disappeared. The moon was so bright I couldn’t see any earthshine at all so I colud only estimate where the edge was. It seem very close.
And then the view got hazy. That was ok, the occultation would be soon and I could still see it. I figured it was dew on the eyepieces, that happens. But was getting worse!
I figured I’d tough it out but when it became very hard to see Ep Gem I knew I had to do sometihng, and fast. I flattened the eyecups and put my glasses on. I don’t like observing this way but this would let some air circulate on the eyepieces, hopefully preventing more dew.
I looked again, had to refocus and the star was gone! Had I missed it? I took my glasses off and looked. Gone! I pressed the Mark button and cursed my timing.
Then I looked up.
It wasn’t dew. It was haze. I have no idea if my carefully collecting timing was for the disappearance of Ep Gem from the occultation or the haze.
Five minutes later I couldn’t even see the moon, the haze had become cloud.
If anyone cares, the time I marked was 11:41:55PM Thursday March 5, 2009 EST. The latitude and longitude are 42 01N, 70 04W (There is no point in giving out more precise figures, I have them, but I’d rather not tell the world where I live with 15 foot accuracy.)
Hey, a data point is a data point, right? Anyway, I’m very glad I tried.