Occultation of Mars: July 27, 2011

After Venus occulted over the Mediterranean last month, it's time for Mars to take the stage. Although 2011 is somewhat of a bad year for occultation viewing, Mars will still be occulted. But don't get your hope up! People here in America won't be able to see it. On July 27, 2011 at 16:50:54 UT over the Pacific and parts of South America. Specifically, this occultation will be viewed from the French Polynesia, Chile, Peru, and Argentina, but won't be anything impressive."The good thing about this occultation is that the Moon is only 16% illuminated. This means minimal lunar interference," AstronomyLive.com encourages.

Courtesy Occult 4.0

Courtesy: Stellarium

"This is second of totally three occultations for the year, and is also a central one. Occultation is the longest for the year, though maximum duration occurs over the Pacific Ocean. It will be observable before sunrise from French Polynesia," the Transits page writes about the occultation.Basic information about the event is listed below:

Greatest Occultation = 2011-Jul-27 16:50:54 TT

Occulted Planet = Mars

Occultation Series = 5418

Member = 1 of 1

Elongation from Sun = 39° W

Moon illuminated fraction = 11 %

Lunar Magnitude = -7.4

Planetary Magnitude = +1.4

Gamma = -0.50124

Gr. Longitude = 114° 11.2' W

Gr. Latitude =   6° 28.6' S

Gr. Duration = 113m 14.3s

ΔT = 66.56s

Greatest Occultation = 2011-Jul-27 16:49:49.7 UT

Altitude =  59.9°

Azimuth =   3.2°

            Calendar Date and Time          Planet           Sun     Limb

                Universal Time         Azi    Alt    PA      Alt      PA

Ingress    2011-Jul-27 15:53:07.8 b   26.9°  56.1°   93.3°   27.8°   88.2°

Egress     2011-Jul-27 17:46:22.1 d  338.5°  57.6°  278.7°   51.5°   88.4°

Duration   113m 14.3s

Courtesy: the TransitsPage

The Timing of the Occultation

Tahiti will view the occultation best tomorrow, when Mars disappears behind the aged moon, timed at approximately 15:53 UT, twelve degrees over the horizon. "When the Moon occulting a planet is in waxing phase, the disappearance of the planet will start at the dark side of the Moon with the reappearance at the sunlit side," AstronomyLive writes. Mars will shine at magnitude +1.2, so it will be easier to see Mars be occulted than come out of occultation (be visible 17:46 Universal Time for Tahiti at dawn). If you live elsewhere, use the calculator to compute times.

Let the occultation begin...and be a spectacle!