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Lunar - Planetary Occultations

Moon and Jupiter Occultation, October 6, 2026 from 17:39 UT through 19:56 UT.

This was my second attempt at photographing an occultation of a planet by the Moon. This occultation occurred just after the Moon rose above the eastern horizon when it was about two degrees above the horizon. In order to make it faster for my Seestar S50 to center on the Moon I located the Orion Nebula about 45 minute prior to the moonrise. As soon as the Moon was visible through the trees on the horizon I located the Moon in my Seestar S50 and began recording the time lapse as soon as it cleared the trees.

To view a time lapse of this occultation event see this animation.

Ingress

Egress

Moon and Jupiter Occultation, September 8, 2026 from 17:39 UT through 19:56 UT.

This was my first attempt at photographing an occultation of a planet, or anything for that matter, by the Moon. This occultation occurred during daylight hours and the temperature topped out at around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. In order to protect my Seestar S50 telescope from the extreme heat I wrapped the telescope in aluminum foil. I set up the telescope before dawn in order to make it easier to center the telescope on the Moon. I continued tracking throughout the morning and I kept the telescope and my tablet plugged into an extension cord in order to keep the their batteries fully charged. I unplugged the telescope around noon time because the battery was starting to overheat. Unplugging it brought the battery temperature down to a safe level. At that point I did not need to continue charging it since the battery was good for five hours after unplugging it.

One thing that I noticed while watching the progress of the occultation on my tablet was the large number of satellites that were crossing the field of view. They were so brightly lit by the Sun that they were easily visible even during the day. The satellites in higher orbits were more sharply focused and moved slower than the ones in lower orbits which moved faster and were more out of focus.

To view a time lapse of this occultation event see this animation.

Ingress

Egress