Spectacular Grazing Occultation Sat. pm, April 1, Birmingham, AL to Hilton Head Island, SC

See 4th-mag. Taygeta flash on and off among mountains near the lunar north pole

This is the best grazing occultation in Georgia since 1969, easily visible with binoculars and some camcorders. The mile-wide graze path passes over parts of Birmingham, AL; Macon and Statesboro, GA; and Hardeeville, SC.

More observers will provide more detail of the lunar mountains, so we want as many as possible to join our effort to observe this. Even those with no previous astronomical experience can make valuable observations.

Astro Meteo (Clear Sky Clock) predicts hazy but clear skies for the Taygeta graze from Statesboro, GA east to the Atlantic coast

New: 2006 March 31

     Early Saturday evening, April 1st, the thin crescent Moon, 16% 
sunlit, will be passing through the Pleiades (Seven Sisters) star 
cluster.  It will be an interesting spectacle for anyone with 
binoculars to see.  Anyone with a camcorder, or binoculars and a 
tape recorder, could even obtain scientifically useful recordings of 
the numerous occultations that will occur.  Please spread the word 
to others about this interesting event visible across your area. The 
Moon will take a few of hours to pass over the Pleiades, with the 
occultations occurring from when it starts to get dark at 7 pm 
until just before the Moon gets too low in the west at 10 pm. 

     The occultations of the Pleiades stars can be seen from any 
convenient location in the region where it will be clear.  But of 
special interest will be a grazing occultation of the 4th-magnitude 
star Taygeta, visible only from a mile-wide zone briefly described 
in the subtitle above.  In this narrow zone, the star will appear to 
move along a tangent line to the Moon's disk, and will flash on and 
off several times among the mountains and craters on the dark side 
of the Moon near the cusp at the Moon's north pole. Even casual 
observers won't want to miss this rare opportunity to see this 
dynamical display of celestial motion; it's the best graze in the 
Georgia since 1969, easily visible with binoculars or any small 
telescope.  If you are north of the graze zone, the Moon will 
narrowly miss the star and there will be no occultation.  If you are 
south of it, the star will disappear on the dark side, then several 
minutes later will reappear on the bright side of the Moon.  We plan 
to set up many observers at locations spread across the graze path.  
If each can time the series of disappearances and reappearances of 
the star at their location, a very detailed profile of the lunar 
topography near the north pole can be constructed. More observers 
will provide more detail of the lunar profile so we encourage as 
many people as possible to participate. 

     You can get some idea of what a grazing occultation of a bright 
star looks like by looking at this video of the first part of a 
grazing occultation of Aldebaran recorded in Poland a few years ago.  
They also obtained a video of the exciting last part of the graze.  
The star remained hidden behind the Moon for about a minute between 
the two sequences.  Simple methods for timing and/or video recording 
occultations are described here.            

WEATHER

     The best weather for the Pleiades passage is expected to be in 
the southern Mid-Atlantic region, from southern Virginia to central 
South Carolina and westward to central Tennessee.  The 36h forecast 
cloud cover maps for the start of the Pleiades passage (0h UT April 
2 or 7 pm EST April 1) are below:

eastern U.S.A. map
is also in this Word file

But after midnight tonight (after 5h UT April 1), you can get 
updated forecast maps at the Astro Meteo Web site.

Becky Lowder gives information below about the Taygeta graze 
expedition at Statesboro, Georgia.     

Weather is now 30% chance of isolated thunderstorms for evening. 
Hopefully it will clear . We're meeting at 5pm or even earlier at 
Locos Restaurant by the Comfort Inns and Suites on the southern end 
of the Veterans Memorial Bypass and Hwy 67. Tell the Comfort Inn you 
are with the Taygeta Graze group for a discounted rate. 

All the stations are marked at 100 ft intervals starting 25 stations 
N of Westside Rd, running south to Country Club Rd.  I have numbered 
them and Hal Povenmire, cell 321-794-0807, has arrived this afternoon. 

Becky Lowder, email lowderb@yahoo.com
_______________________________

Graze zone across Statesboro, GA
  Detailed view on east side of Statesboro
The path near I-95 just s. of Hardeeville, SC, just in case 
it's necessary to go east due to clouds from the west.

All of the above are in this Word file

     Charlie Ridgway has posted path overlays on interactive maps 
that use google maps to give very detailed map and aerial vies of 
graze zones as well as of asteroidal occultations.  
His general Web site has links to the map sites and 
describes how to "navigate" the maps to get very detailed views of 
regions of interest.  There is a link specifically for the
2006 Pleiades grazes; scroll down to April for the 
April 1/2 Pleiades passage.  The link for the Taygeta graze is here.
I have used this site to produce the maps shown above. 

David Dunham
e-mail:  home, dunham@starpower.net office, david.dunham@jhuapl.edu 
phones cell 301-526-5590; office 240-228-5609; home 301-474-4722