What is a stellar occultation observation?
A stellar occultation occurs when the light from a star is blocked by an intervening body (such as a planet, moon, ring, or asteroid) from reaching an observer.
What is stellar occultation and how was it important for observing Uranus?
Another lucky incident occurred on 10 March 1977, when the planet was scheduled to pass in front of a faint star. By observing such a stellar occultation, astronomers hoped to determine properties of the planet’s atmosphere, and to accurately establish its size from the duration of the star’s disappearance behind it.
What planets rings were discovered by stellar occultation?
The American astronomer James L. Elliot and colleagues discovered the ring system from Earth in 1977, nine years before the Voyager 2 encounter, during a stellar occultation by Uranus—i.e., when the planet passed between a star and Earth, temporarily blocking the star’s light.
What is star occultation?
occultation, complete obscuration of the light of an astronomical body, most commonly a star, by another astronomical body, such as a planet or a satellite. Hence, a total solar eclipse is the occultation of the Sun by the Moon.
What is difference between occultation and eclipse?
An eclipse is the result of the total or partial masking of a celestial body by another along an observer’s line of sight. An occultation occurs when a celestial object is eclipsed by the Moon or another solar system body.
What is meant by occultation answer in one sentence?
An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observer.
What is the difference between eclipse and occultation?
What does planetary opposition mean?
All the planets in the Solar System orbit around the Sun. At certain points during these orbits, the Earth finds itself directly between the Sun and another planet. This is the moment at which that planet is said to be ‘in opposition’. When Saturn is in opposition for example, Earth is between the Sun and Saturn.
What is a double occultation?
Double occultations The Moon or another celestial body can occult multiple celestial bodies at the same time. Because of its relatively large angular diameter the Moon, at any given time, occults an indeterminate number of stars and galaxies.
Which eclipse is also a kind of occultation?
A lunar eclipse is another example of an occultation, but the description is a little more complicated. When this happens, anybody on the dark side of the Earth can watch the moon pass into the Earth’s shadow, so that the Earth is directly in between the Earth and the sun.