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On the early evening of December 01, 2008 the Earthmoon occulted planet Venus. Such events happen relative rare and so they are observed and recorded accurate and with highly interest by astronomers.
The next occultation of Venus by the Earthmoon that will be observable in Austria will happen on April 06, 2016 at about 08:30 UTC on the southeast sky.
Because I wanted to record a star occultation by the asteroid Eurynome shortly after the Venus occultation too an observation point near Kotzendorf on the Manhartsberg was chosen for observing. According the calculations the shadow of the asteroid should move there over the landscape. To measure the body form and the orbit around the sun exactly also other astronomers from Austria, Germany, France, Spain and Italy were participating on this observation.
Sadly the weather was very bad on this evening and in Kotzendorf worse than at home in Nonndorf. Very gusty wind and a nearly total covered sky was the situation during setup of equipment beside Kotzendorf. And this situation did not change in the next hours. So I could make only some images from the observation place and from the clouded sky. Many of the recorded video images are dark and unusable due to the clouded sky. Capturing of data was sadly impossible. The planned observation of the star occultation by the asteroid Eurynome got also a victim of the bad weather.
Because of the strong wind a setup of the big Newton telescope was not possible. So I tried to accomplish the measurements with the short focal length doublett APO.
Observation position:
Kotzendorf, 3571
N 48° 35´ 12.4"
E 15° 42´ 41.6"
MSL 286m
Table with precalculations prepared with Occult 4 from Dave Herald
Occultation prediction for Kotzendorf, Austria
E. Longitude 15 42 45.0, Latitude 48 35 16.0, Alt. 288m; Telescope dia 25cm; dMag 0.0
day Time P Star Sp Mag Mag % Elon Sun Moon CA PA VA AA Libration A B RV Cct durn R.A. (J2000) Dec
y m d h m s No D v r V ill Alt Alt Az o o o o L B m/o m/o "/sec o sec h m s o m s
08 Dec 1 16 16 53 D Venus -4.2 -4.2 13+ 43 -11 11 213 77S 96 72 104 -3.7 +2.9 +1.8-1.6 .288 -32 .07 19 38 36.1 -23 55 56
Duration of planetary disk occultation: predicted time +/-26.3 secs
08 Dec 1 17 26 33 R Venus -4.2 -4.2 13+ 43 3 227 -39S 211 179 219 -3.9 +2.7 +0.1+0.2 .318 -147 .07 19 38 36.1 -23 55 56
Duration of planetary disk occultation: predicted time +/-23.8 secs
| The moon occults planet Venus on December 01, 2008 from 16:16 until 17:27 UTC |
 Diagram created with Guide 8 from Bill J Gray |
| The observation place (OP) about 500 meters south from Kotzendorf |
 North 48° 35´ 12.4", East 15° 42´ 41.6", MSL 286m |
| The planet Venus and the moon at 15:43 UTC, about 23 minutes before occultation start |
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| Venus, moon and above right Jupiter at 15:44 UTC |
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| Already before the occultation start moon and Venus disappeared behind dense clouds |
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| The moon at 16:58 UTC with occulted Venus under Jupiter |
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| The table with the notebook had to be saved with weights and suit cases due to the gusty wind |
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| The observation place on a cross way |
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| The WO Megrez72 with Atik filter wheel and camera WAT-120N on EQ6 mount |
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| The video with inserted GPS time visible on notebook screen |
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| The power supply with 230V was realized with a DC/AC converter direct from car battery |
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| The moon was visible through the clouds always just for few seconds |
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| Venus is faint visible through the clouds shortly after the reappearance on the moon limb |
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Because of the dense clouds also during the reappearance of Venus no accurate time could be captured on video. The video camera had to work in integration mode even to get a chance for capturing Venus through the clouds. At home in Nonndorf at least the disappearance would have been visible clearly in a big cloud hole.
February 24, 2009 |
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