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One of the brightest stars in the sky will 'blink out' on Dec. 12. Here's how to watch. (www.livescience.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

8:17pm EST Dec 11, 2023

the occultation will be visible only from a narrow path stretching from Asia to southern Europe, Florida and eastern Mexico.

The article has links to maps, a detailed info page, and a livestream

Edit: bad fleshbot. I'm kinda guessing the article changes time for the reader because it absolutely says 11th, not the 12th as the title says.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

But, in EST and similar time zones, it's December 11, not 12, right? The headline says 12th; the article says Monday the 11th. And based on a different article I previously read, I set myself a calendar reminder for the 11th, so I'm leaning that way. Maybe they meant the 12th UTC?

Edit: Yep, in EST and other Western TZs, I'm reading the 11th--Monday night.

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/asteroid-will-cover-betelgeuse-may-reveal-its-visible-surface/

Around 1:17 UTC (8:17 p.m. EST December 11th), the main-belt asteroid 319 Leona...

https://earthsky.org/space/betelgeuse-will-dim-disappear-asteroid-leona-dec-11-12-2023/

So, for example, in Cordoba, Spain, the mid-point of the event will be at about 1:15:45 UTC, or 2:15:45 a.m. local time, on December 12, 2023. And in Miami, Florida, the mid-point of the event will be at about 8:24:54 p.m. local time on December 11, 2023. That’s the same as 1:24:54 UTC on December 12, 2023. Find the exact timing for your location here.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thank you for untangling this. I'm calling up my science loving nieces to watch it for me and report.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Please note it's Dec 11 EST. You may have seen my old comment that said the title's 12th EST. So it's best to follow the direct pages linked in the article for your timezone

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

You are absolutely correct. I wonder if the title is UTC but the article adapts to the reader. I hope I don't cause people to miss it

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

A very, very tiny total eclipse.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Things like this make you realize eclipse as a bit of an arbitrary term to cover what we feel isn't quite a transit and isn't quite an occultation. Total solar eclipses are occultations and annulars are transits. Lunar eclipses are very disproportionately occultations but we're sitting inside the cozy Earth looking out like office gophers commenting "it's really coming down now" about snow flurries. When the Martian rover saw Phobos in front of the sun, it was a transit.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is this event going to be recorded via high powered telescopes like Hubble or James Webb?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

They are not well positioned to do that. You have to be in a very narrow path. But a properly positioned ground telescope could learn quite a lot about the star by studying the light curve. In some ways, events like this can give more detail than even the Webb can do. We can also learn about the asteroid by studying the light curves from several telescopes in different positions.

This is the type of event where high speed video gives better data than a long exposure. It will only be 12 seconds from beginning to end at any viewing site. And it will cross the earth in 18 minutes.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

A birthday gift for December born, a Christmas gift for everyone else!