Almanako -- Almanac of Astronomical Events

I'm pleased to be able to offer information about lunar occultations and maps showing where they're visible. So many of the events this almanac covers are effects of perspective. Occultations are among them. The moon passes in front of the sun during a solar eclipse. The moon passes in front of various other objects in our sky as well. That's what an occultation is. That's not the only kind of occultation. Asteroids pass in front of faint stars all the time. Planets pass in front of stars too. And, very rarely, a planet may even be seen to pass in front of another planet. The last time that happened was in 1818 and the next time will be in 2065!

This page will deal with lunar occultations of planets and the brightest stars. For those who seek information about other occultations, please visit one of these web sites: The International Occultation Timing Association, The Asteroidal Occultation Observers in Europe, International Occultation Timing Association European Section, and Steve Preston's Asteroid Occultation Page. Those pages contain information about upcoming asteroid occultations and more lunar occultations than are listed here.

Since late 2005 and continuing until early 2010, the moon is occulting the star Antares every month. Mostly, these are southern hemisphere events. A few can be seen as far north as the Phillipines and Mali. The moon also occults Regulus a few times in 2008. Again, it is mainly the southern hemisphere that enjoys this treat. Venus is hidden to North American observers in one occultation and Europeans in another. Mercury is occulted twice for the southern hemisphere and once for viewers in the north. Four of the five events involving Mars are far northern hemisphere events. And Jupiter is cloaked once for those very far south.

Here are some visibility maps for several of the occultations happening during 2008. These maps were made with the free program WinOccult 3.6.

Occultations of Antares by the moon