The Moon Visits the Pleiades Tonight-9Jan06

Lydia

Information sent by Mr. David Dunham President of I.O.T.A.
http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/iotandx.htm

Passage of the Moon across the Pleiades Monday evening, Jan. 9

On Monday evening, January 9, the 82% sunlit waxing gibbous Moon will pass over the Pleiades cluster for observers in North America and northern South America. The Moon will miss most of the bright stars for observers in Canada and the northwestern USA, but will occult Merope, Alcyone, Atlas, and/or Pleione for most of the southern and eastern USA and Mexico.
Predictions for the occultations of these stars computed for
hundreds of North American cities are on IOTA's Web site at
http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota or, directly, at
http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/2006plnam/pleiadna.htm .
In the Caribbean, Central America, and northern South America, other
bright Pleiades stars will also be occulted; Spanish-language
information and predictions for these events for the major cities in
the region, set up by Claudio Martinez of the Occultation Section
of LIADA (Liga Iberoamericana de Astronomia), are at
http://www.espacioprofundo.com.ar/verarticulo/Ocultacion_por_la_Luna_de_las_Pleyades..html

In the USA, the grazes of the bright stars will be on the
Moon's sunlit limb and, at such a bright gibbous phase, will be
unobservable. Some observers have predictions for the graze of
Alcyone and Atlas, but even those bright stars will be overwhelmed by
the bright side of the Moon. So observers in the USA will either
have to be content with observing the numerous total occultations
(several 8th to 6th-mag. stars will be occulted in addition to the
"big 4") from any convenient location, or try to observe a graze of
one of these fainter stars, which will be quite difficult due to
proximity of sunlit features.

The Moon Visits the Pleiades Tonight-9Jan06

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