Lunar Occultation -Thursday 9th May 2019

Okay -I know it is a tough ask, but there is going to be a nice lunar occultation tonight Thursday 9th May.
It is going to be tough because, firstly, we might have too much cloud.
Secondly, the sky is going to be bright. Sunset occurs at 21.07 Dublin Local Time.
The occultation is set to occur between 22.24 and 22.25 local time.
The star is 63 Geminorum. It is a quadruple star.
Now this is where it gets complicated.
It is highly unlikely we could see components B and C. They are 10.9 and 10.7 in magnitude as the Moon will be too bright.
However A and D are good and might be bright enough They are quite close together.
They are also a true binary.
A and D have the unusual designation HDS 1050.
HDS stands for Hipparcos Catalogue.
Their magnitudes are 5.3 and 9.3.
The separation is only 3.9". The PA is 98 degrees.

Our Moon will be 4.9 days old.
Its magnitude will be -8.9, and 26% illuminated.

Maybe some of us will see this occultation if the rain clouds dissipate over Dublin.

NGC 2392 (The Eskimo Nebula) is nearby too.
You can have a go at observing that after the occultation is finished.

Clear skies from Aubrey.

I didn't have a great night here in Ranelagh.
There was far too much cloud about.
So no occultation or reappearance of 63 Geminorum could be had.
For 2 seconds I spotted the D companion of HDS 1050 at 112X.

However I did notice a number of fine features on the Moon.
Rima Posidonius was nice at 112X.
And 2 peaks of Theophilus were stunning.
The beginning of Rupes Altai coming out of the crater Piccolomini was on view.

Wasat (Delta Geminorum), a fine binary near the Moon was very attractive at 112X.
The orange B companion was pointing down to the north western horizon.

How did the rest of you do?

Kind regards from Aubrey.

Hi Aubrey,

Crystal clear evening here in S Limerick and I managed to extend my record for binocular observation of Sirius by one day. Observed through 20x80s at 2102, 13 minutes before sunset. The photo below is from 2108. The star had dropped below the treeline by 2118 but my SW horizon is not very good and I'm sure more favourable locations could follow it for a few more days.

I've found my equipment is more successful with stars around mag 4, so I didn't capture the occultation. Did take a snap of the almost 5 day moon.

Regards,
Finbarr.

That is a very fine image of the very same Moon which I observed, Finbarr.
You seemed to have clearer night than I did.

Well done on spotting Sirius too.
Who would think it is possible to see the brightest night time star in the month of May?

Congratulations on this achievement, Finbarr!

Clear skies from Aubrey.

Another record! Flickering continuously in the thicker atmosphere but to get consecutive evenings sufficiently clear down to the horizon is rare indeed -

Clearly you are going to see Sirius when it is far nearer to your horizon, Finbarr.

Keep up the good work!

Aubrey.