Lunar transit
Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Sun, 29 Nov 1998 02:53:30 -0500
Saturday evening (about 01:05-06 on 29 Nov UTC) from San
Antonio, Texas (29.40N, 98.66W, 180m) I picked up a pass
of Lacrosse 3 Rk (25018, 97-64B) at one power and then
switched to binoculars. Soon I noticed that it was
heading for the beautiful Moon-Jupiter conjunction! At
first I thought it might go between them, but at the
last second it was obvious that it was going to transit
the Moon. I lost it in the glare of the sunlit side and
didn't reacquire it until after it had already crossed
the unlit side. "Missed it by that much!"
Besides having to know ahead of time that there's going
to be a transit (coulda used Skymap!), I guess that to
actually see the transit one should just aim at the dark
side and wait for the satellite to cross the field.
"Be prepared!" ... Who, me?
Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA