The Moon Hides Jupiter

By Alan Dyer for SkySafari Premium

Viewers in North America have a chance to see a rare occultation of Jupiter by the Moon in October. It is a spectacular event and occurs in a dark sky in pre-dawn hours. The downside is that the western half of the continent misses out, but gets a close conjunction as a consolation.

On October 6 the occultation occurs in the pre-dawn sky, with the Moon high in the east in Leo, as shown below — for Toronto, but a similar view applies to much of eastern North America.

At this event, you will be able to see it happen with the unaided eye or with binoculars. But the best view will be through a telescope, as below, where the four bright Galilean moons will also disappear, then reappear one by one.

The map from In-the-Sky.org shows who can see the occultation, a more limited area than the month prior. Those in the west see a close conjunction in the dawn hours but no occultation — nice, but only a consolation prize.

Here’s a typical view for ingress, with Europa disappearing first, followed by Io and Callisto paired together, then Jupiter, and Ganymede last

Jupiter and its moons re-appear in the same order, though by then Io has moved farther away from Callisto. In this case, you will see the “dark side” of the Moon, lit by Earthshine. This will be a spectacular view in any optics, with Jupiter rising above the limb of the Moon.

Click here (in SkySafari Featured Stories) to preview the occultation for your location, or the close conjunction if you are not in the occultation zone.

But the October 6 event is rare enough that it will be worth traveling, if only to seek out clear skies that morning. Good luck to all!