What is an Astronomical Occultation?
Astronomical occultation occurs when one celestial body eclipses, or blocks the light from, another celestial body from the Earth’s perspective. Moons, planets, stars, small satellites, and asteroids can all interact to form an astronomical occultation with respect to a position on the Earth’s surface. Many databases and organizations keep track of the orbits of our moon and various asteroids to predict visible occultations in the coming months. Amateur astronomers can observe these events to determine information such as the accuracy of that body’s orbit or the topography of the moon. Occult means “to hide.” This is what occurs when the moon obscures a bright star for a brief period of time, for instance. That astronomical occultation would be visible to some locations of the Earth. The International Occultation Timing Association keeps records and publishes schedules of various kinds of astronomical occultation for the whole world. They track the Earth’s position and orientation in t
