IAA Lecture, Moon in Pleiades

Hi all,

1. Just a final reminder about the next IAA public lecture:
Wed, 19 Oct, 7.30 p.m. Lecture Room 5, Stranmillis College, Stranmillis Road, BELFAST. Irish Astronomical Association, Public Lecture, by Dr Ian Sanders (TCD) "Evidence in meteorites for the origin of the Solar System." Admission Free, including light refreshments.


2. The waning gibbous Moon will pass through the S. edge of the Pleiades in the early morning of October 20, with brilliant Mars nearby to the West. The Moon will be so bright that it will overwhelm the fainter Pleiades, but you still may see it pass in front of, or occult, a few members of the cluster.
Keen observers can look out for these
1. At about 02.15 it occults TYC 1799 (mag 6.9). It will reappear about 03.27
2. At about 03.40, it occults HL 24 Tau, (mag 7.8 ). It will reappear about 04.38
3. At about 03.45, it occults HL 25 Tau, (mag 5.4). It will reappear about 05.02
4. At about 03.47, it occults V650 Tau, (mag 7.8 ), as seen from Cork; it happens at about 03.55 from Dublin, and from Belfast it's just a graze, at about 04.05.
5. At about 04.45, it occults HL 32 Tau, (mag 6.1)
6. At about 05.20, it occults STT 64, (mag 6.8 )
Those times are all BST, and except where noted, are for Belfast. Observers further S and West will see the occultations happen about 5-10 minutes earlier, but reappearance times will vary less.

P.s. Danny Collins tells me that he has seen the first episode of 'Supernova' already, and didn't rate it very highly on astronomical content!

Clear Skies,

Terry Moseley