Moon and Elnath

StarDate

The gibbous Moon will get in the way early tomorrow. It’ll cover up a bright star – but only as seen from South Texas and points southward. And its light will all but wipe out a meteor shower.

The cover-up is an occultation. The Moon will pass directly in front of the star Elnath, which represents the tip of one of the horns of Taurus. That will block the star from view. From the United States, the only place to witness the vanishing act is south of San Antonio. The rest of the country will see a very close miss.

The view is limited because the Moon isn’t all that far away – less than a quarter of a million miles. So the viewing angle changes as you move farther north or south. Tonight, those north of the latitude of San Antonio will see Elnath pass above the Moon’s north pole.

Elnath will be close to the lower left of the Moon as they climb into good view by about 11 p.m. The brilliant planet Jupiter will be close by. The Moon will move closer to the star during the night. They’ll be at their closest in the wee hours of tomorrow morning, with the exact timing depending on your location.

The encounter is a bit of compensation for the fact that the Moon is a pest right now. The Orionid meteor shower is underway, and should be at its best late tonight – about the time of the Moon’s closest approach to Elnath. But the moonlight will overpower all the but the brightest meteors.

Tomorrow: a bright evening encounter.

Script by Damond Benningfield