Neptune and the Moon after the occultation
Taken by Paolo Palma on August 21, 2024 @
Naples - Italy
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Date Taken: 2024:08:21 23:20:13
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Details:
Mission accomplished!
Some 17 hours after the beautiful occultation of Saturn, the Moon also occulted the very distant Neptune.
The viewing of the phenomenon would have been decidedly less satisfying, but because of the difficulty of the vision it proved to be quite an observational challenge.
Neptune's disc in fact with an apparent diameter of only 2.34" was about 60 times smaller than that of yesterday's Saturn, and between the two there is also a difference of about 7 magnitudes!
The vision was also disadvantaged by the fact that it occurred when the two were still low on the horizon, by a very bright gibbous Moon and by a sky that was not so clear.
To increase the contrast, I then followed the planet at 404x and to make sure I found it, I started to do so 30 minutes before the time of contact with the sunlit lunar rim.
It appeared as a vibrant speck, like a faint shimmering star with less and less contrast, and disappeared from view seconds before the occultation itself.
The surprise, however, was when it reappeared on the other side, for there the brightness of the Moon was decidedly less blinding, and since the occultation from Naples was almost grazing, it appeared to rise almost above the craters not far from the Moon's north pole. The view was thus more realistic and the planet's disc was easily perceivable even if small and pale.
The shots and videos I tried to take are affected by all these difficulties and above all by managing to keep in the eyepiece field a 404x and with the zoom such a faint and moving object.
In light of everything, next time I would try observations only when the planet is close to the shadow side of the Moon.
Photographer's website:
https://www.unsaltonelcielo.it
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