Link to my video and images of this Saturn occultation

On Tuesday, May 22, 2007 the Earthmoon occults planet Saturn and his moons. In Woodquarter the occultation happens on southwest sky in an elevation of 41 degrees. In Woodquarter this occultation is a total one. The planet disk will disappeare behind the dark side of the moon disk at 19h26 UTC and will reappear 66 minutes later at 20h32 UTC again on the bright moon limb. The earthmoon will be than in an elevation of 31 degrees on western sky.

The exactly occultation times for Saturn, the three brightest Saturnmoons Titan, Rhea, Iapteus and some stars can be found in the table below. It is possible that all dim Saturnmoons are not visible in small telescopes up to 10-Inch (25cm) standing so close beside the 40% lit Earthmoon.

For a sucessfull observation of the planet disk occultation a normal binoculars should be adequate. But if the occultation of the three brightest Saturnmoons Titan, Rhea and Iapteus should also be observed, a telescop with at least 6-Inches diameter (15cm) should be used.

But the end of the occultation will only be observable on the planet disk. The more fainter saturnmoons will be outshined on the bright moon limb during reappearance.

Data table for occultation of Saturn system in Woodquarter (all times in UTC)
Occultation Predictions for Nonndorf in Mai 2007
E.Long.   15 14  8.2   Lat.  48 47 13.5   Alt. 590m.   T.dia 250mm.   dMag 1.5

      day  Time   P   Star  Sp  Mag    % Elon Sun  Moon   CA   PA  VA  WA Libration   A   B   RV   Cct   R.A. (J2000)  Dec
 y  m  d  h  m  s      No  D       V  ill     Alt Alt Az   o    o   o   o   L    B   m/o m/o "/sec   o  h  m   s    o  m  s
07 05 22 18 17 49 d    1395 G9  6.3   39+  77   3 50 226  64S 134 105 118 +6.7 -2.1 +0.9-2.0 .404  -11  9 25 32.5  16 35  8
07 05 22 18 48 27 d X 14301 K2  9.5   39+  77  -2 47 235  82S 115  81  99 +6.7 -2.0 +1.0-1.7 .419   +8  9 26 29.8  16 32 14
07 05 22 18 51  1 d   98568 M*  8.0   39+  77  -2 46 235  59N  76  42  60 +6.6 -2.0 +1.8-0.8 .289  +47  9 26 37.9  16 41 54
07 05 22 19 18 35 d X114776    10.3   39+  77  -6 42 243  79N  97  59  80 +6.6 -2.0 +1.2-1.5 .392  +26  9 27 21.3  16 29 58
07 05 22 19 20 42 d X114772    10.5   39+  77  -6 42 243  80S 118  80 102 +6.6 -2.0 +0.8-1.9 .436   +4  9 27 17.4  16 23 55
07 05 22 19 26 35 D Saturn      0.5   39+  78  -7 41 245  71S 127  88 110 +6.6 -2.0 +0.7-2.0 .437   -4  9 27 21.1  16 20 35
   Duration of Partial Stage for Disk = 38 secs
07 05 22 19 27 28 d Rhea        9.8   39+  78  -7 41 245  74S 124  86 108 +6.6 -2.0 +0.7-2.0 .439   -2  9 27 24.3  16 20 56
   Duration of Partial Stage for Disk = 478 msecs
07 05 22 19 28 11 r    1395 G9  6.3   39+  78  -7 41 246 -86N 292 253 275 +6.6 -2.0 +0.9-1.8 .434 -169  9 25 32.5  16 35  8
07 05 22 19 31 53 d Titan       8.4   39+  78  -7 40 246  77S 121  82 104 +6.6 -2.0 +0.7-1.9 .440   +2  9 27 33.1  16 20 38
   Duration of Partial Stage for Disk = 1608 msecs
07 05 22 19 44 14 d Iapetus    10.3   39+  78  -9 39 249  88S 110  70  93 +6.5 -1.9 +0.8-1.8 .437  +12  9 27 58.0  16 20 24
   Duration of Partial Stage for Disk = 453 msecs
07 05 22 20 11 38 d X 14345 F0  9.8   39+  78 -12 34 255  54S 144 102 127 +6.5 -1.9 +0.2-2.2 .429  -22  9 28 20.8  16  6 33
07 05 22 20 33 21 R Saturn      0.5   40+  78     31 260 -81N 297 254 280 +6.5 -1.8 +0.4-1.9 .473 -176  9 27 21.1  16 20 35
   Duration of Partial Stage for Disk = 35 secs
07 05 22 20 51 35 d X114857    10.2   40+  78     28 263  13S 185 142 168 +6.4 -1.8 -0.9-3.1 .213  -64  9 28 45.8  15 53 46
07 05 22 21 10 22 d X114943    10.3   40+  78     25 266  62S 137  93 120 +6.4 -1.8 +0.1-2.0 .474  -17  9 30  8.3  15 53 18
07 05 22 21 29 30 d X115013     9.9   40+  78     22 270  62N  80  37  63 +6.4 -1.7 +0.5-1.5 .394  +39  9 31  2.0  16  2 20
07 05 22 21 37 22 d X115036    10.1   40+  78     21 271  73N  91  47  74 +6.4 -1.7 +0.3-1.6 .452  +28  9 31 17.7  15 57 31
07 05 22 21 38 39 d X115035    10.1   40+  78     20 271  56N  74  31  57 +6.4 -1.7 +0.5-1.4 .362  +45  9 31 17.4  16  1 39
07 05 22 21 53  2 D    1407 K0  7.7   40+  79     18 274  79S 120  76 103 +6.4 -1.7 +0.0-1.8 .521   -1  9 31 39.0  15 46 12
07 05 22 22 33 38 d   98637     9.4   40+  79     11 281  68N  87  44  70 +6.4 -1.6 +0.0-1.5 .467  +31  9 33  6.8  15 44 32
07 05 22 22 59 48 d   98643 G0  9.4   41+  79      7 285  79S 120  78 103 +6.4 -1.6 -0.3-1.7 .560   -3  9 33 52.5  15 29 31

The complete Saturn system before occultation at 19:19 UTC

The planet disk of Saturn shortly before occultation at 19:26 UTC

After the planet disk of Saturn the brightest moons Rhea, Titan and Iapteus will follow

The planet disk of Saturn on the bright moon limb after the end of the occultation at 20:34 UTC

Diagrams created with Guide 8 from Bill J Gray

Earthmoon occults Saturn - real time video MPEG4 (6MB)

Video equipment setup

© 2007 G. Dangl

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