Lunar Occultation of Spica

Saturday 13 July from 10pm to 10:30pm CDT

For ages six and older. No admission fee.

Binocular strongly recommended.

REGARDING LUNAR OCCULTATIONS

Though subtle over a short period of time, our Moon has a motion independent of the background star field. On occasion this motion causes the Moon to pass over and temporarily hide or occult a bright star. As this occultation is happening immediately after our regular Evening Sky Viewing, we encourage any and all interested patrons to join us for this special celestial event.

ABOUT SPICA

Spica is a B-class, magnitude +1.0 star much larger than our Sun located 250 to 275 light-years from the Solar System. It is the sixteenth brightest star in the night sky and the brightest star in the constellation Virgo the Virgin. (Spica is actually a double star. The two components orbit each other every four Earth days.) On the evening of 13 July Spica should become visible to the unaided eye at about 8:45pm as long as light pollution in the viewer’s area is not too extreme.

THE 13 JULY OCCULTATION EVENT

This event is visible to the unaided eye, although a binocular will enhance the view. For those located at HRPO and around the HRPO area, the occultation by the First Quarter Moon will occur between 10:24pm and 10:30pm. Begin viewing Spica fifteen minutes earlier! Do not take your eyes off Spica!