Overview
- The waning crescent Moon will pass directly in front of Jupiter on Tuesday, Oct. 6, producing a temporary occultation visible across much of the eastern and central United States and parts of southern Canada.
- Timing varies by location, but IOTA-based predictions and local reports place the disappearance near 4:20 a.m. and the reappearance about an hour later, with New York City estimates clustered around 4:20–4:23 a.m. for disappearance and 5:24–5:27 a.m. for reappearance.
- The event is visible to the naked eye, but binoculars or a small telescope will show more detail and make photography easier; a stabilized smartphone with zoom and a tripod or steady support is recommended for clear images.
- Because Jupiter has a visible disk, the Moon’s limb will cross it slowly so ingress and egress each take on the order of a minute, and observers may see effects such as a bright ‘sparkling diamond’ at reappearance and the planet’s four Galilean moons through a scope.
- Local rarity gives the event extra interest: astronomers say a comparable dark-sky occultation repeats on the order of years to decades, and New York City last saw a similar dark-sky Jupiter occultation on Dec. 7, 2004.