Space Forum / Amateur Astronomy / November 2004

I was going to mention this daytime occ. yesterday, but it sounded a
bit too masochistic for most with Sol less than 40 deg. away :)
Nevertheless, I'm using a side of my house to block our sun and
waiting patiently for some high clouds to clear.
Probably be stuck watching it on Celestia, though.

SSX

I was fortunate enough to be able to see part of the occultation through
handheld binoculars (8x42). Local clouds, frequent in South Florida,
blocked my view of the moon until about 11:57 EST, which meant my first
glimpse showed just the moon.

Because the predicted path showed that Miami would get a grazing
occultaion, and I was observing just 25 miles north (in Fort
Lauderdale), I don't know whether I just plain missed Jupiter, or
whether it was in fact occulted on my first glimpse.

However, about 5 minutes later, when the clouds parted again, I was able
to see Jupiter exiting (or having never been behind!) the limb.

With all the local clouds, I was grateful for my little peek! About 15
minutes later I noticed that Jupiter had emerged quite a bit further
from the moon's limb, but again, through handheld birding binoculars, I
wasn't able to determine anything with much precision -- I did see a
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, though, the first time I've ever found one at
Fern Forest!

--Ben Kolstad