Interesting lunar occultations in August 2024

The Moon will occult Saturn in the early hours of August 21 but it won’t be very easy to observe.[1] It takes place with the 97% illuminated Moon low down in the SW. Disappearance is around 03:30 UT; reappearance around 04:10 UT. (Figure 1). Times for various cities in the UK and Ireland are given in Table 1. Saturn (mag 0.7) will take about 45 seconds to be occulted.

At a similar time on August 26, the Moon will pass across the Pleiades and there will be a grazing occultation of Atlas, 27 Tau, a mag 3.6 double star (mags 3.8 and 5.5) [1,2]. Observers along a line between Rosslare, Anglesey and Middlesbrough could see a series of disappearances and reappearances as the star ducks and dives in between the jagged features of the Moon’s limb. The multiple nature of Atlas means that brief fades and steps in brightness are also expected. Observers south of this line will see a standard occultation; to its north only a near miss of star and Moon will occur. A planetary webcam or video camera with a frame rate of about 25 fps can be used to record the occultation.

More details about the graze track and timings can be obtained from Tim Haymes – occultations AT stargazer.me.uk – and please report any observations to him.
The BAA Handbook [2] lists the circumstances of bright star occultations computed for Greenwich and Edinburgh, with coefficients to compute the event time from an observer’s location. More accurate predictions can be obtained using Occult software.[3]

[1] Lunar Section Circular, 2024 August, pp. 2-4
[2] 2024 BAA Handbook, Lunar Occultations, pp. 37-45
[3] Occult software https://occultations.org/observing/software/occult/

(As I was about to send this note there’s now an Observer’s Challenge on the website)

https://britastro.org/2024/observers-challenge-a-lunar-occultation-of-saturn-on-2024-august-21