On Sunday night / Monday morning, several members of RAC met at the Crossroads shopping center to observe a grazing lunar occultation of the star Delta Capricorni. Rarely do we observe in a location bright enough for a photo, but this graze was observed under lots of light as you can see below.

Our northernmost observing station awaits the action

Mark L coordinated the event for us and devised a well-prepared plan. We had 4 observing stations spread across the shopping area. This was necessary to produce useful scientific data to IOTA – the International Occultation Timing Association. This was the first graze for many participants, and the event turned out to be a terrific one.

Grazes are a tricky thing. Weather is always a factor, but in addition the location of the observer determines whether any events (disappearances and reappearances of the star) can be seen at all. Mark’s careful preparation managed to assure that everyone saw multiple events. In fact several participants reported that this graze produced a personal record number of events – as many as 14!

Delta Cap as it moves (right to left) past the limb of the moon. Photo courtesy of Joe Pedit.

Our stations from southernmost to northernmost:

Mike K – video with timings
Jim M – visual

Joe P – video on DSLR camera with timings
David K – video with some problems, visual

Doug L – video with some problems, visual
Jim P – visual (record 14 events)
Barton M – visual with timings
Ramiro & Faith R – visual

Mark L – visual with timings
Me – visual with timings (record 14 events)