Lunar Occultation

by Dominic Ford, Editor
Last updated: 16 Jul 2020
Lunar Occultation

The Moon occults Saturn in 2008 May. Image © Thomas Bresson.

A lunar occultation occurs when the Moon passes in front of a star or other astronomical object. Occultations of bright stars and planets typically occur a few times per year, often clustering with several occultations of the same object in successive months, since the Moon traces roughly the same path across the sky each month. These clusters come to an end after a few months, when gradual changes in the Moon's orbit change the Moon's path across the sky. Alternatively, in the case of planets, the planet's own movement will eventually carry it away from the Moon's path.

Since the Moon is much closer to the Earth than other celestial objects, its exact position in the sky differs depending on your exact location on Earth due to its large parallax. The position of the Moon as seen from two points on opposite sides of the Earth varies by up to two degrees, or four times the diameter of the full moon.

This means that no single lunar occultation can ever be visible across the whole Earth: if the Moon is aligned to pass in front of a particular object for an observer on one side of the Earth, it will appear up to two degrees away from that object on the other side of the Earth.

In-The-Sky.org lists all lunar occultations of the planets and stars brighter than second magnitude, and provides maps of where each occultation is visible. Each map shows separate contours for where the disappearance of the occulted object behind the Moon is visible (shown in red), and where its reappearance is visible (shown in blue). The solid contours show where each event is likely to be visible through binoculars at a reasonable altitude in the sky. Dotted contours indicate where each event occurs above the horizon, but may not be visible due to the sky being too bright or the Moon being very close to the horizon.

The KMZ files below can be opened in Google Earth to provide a more high-resolution view.

List of lunar occultations

The table below lists lunar occultations of the planets and stars brighter than second magnitude in 2022. To show events in other years, use the control below.

Change year

Lunar occultations in 2022

Date Visibility from
Ashburn
Disappear Reappear Object Visibility
map
Full description
of event
Date Visibility from
Ashburn
Disappear Reappear Object Visibility
map
Full description
of event
30 Jan 2022 Not visibleNunkiPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
07 Feb 2022 Not visibleUranusPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
26 Feb 2022 Not visibleNunkiPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
07 Mar 2022 Not visibleUranusPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
23 Mar 2022 Not visibleDschubbaPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
25 Mar 2022 Not visibleNunkiPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
03 Apr 2022 Not visibleUranusPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
19 Apr 2022 Visible02:22 EDT02:50 EDTDschubbaPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
22 Apr 2022 Not visibleNunkiPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
16 May 2022 Not visibleDschubbaPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
19 May 2022 Not visibleNunkiPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
27 May 2022 Not visibleVenusPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
13 Jun 2022 Visible22:22 EDT22:55 EDTDschubbaPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
15 Jun 2022 Not visibleNunkiPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
22 Jun 2022 Not visibleMarsPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
24 Jun 2022 Not visibleUranusPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
10 Jul 2022 Not visibleDschubbaPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
13 Jul 2022 Not visibleNunkiPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
21 Jul 2022 Not visibleMarsPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
22 Jul 2022 Not visibleUranusPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
06 Aug 2022 Disappearance:
In daylight; low altitude

 Reappearance:
In daylight
15:58 EDT16:42 EDTDschubbaPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
09 Aug 2022 Not visibleNunkiPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
18 Aug 2022 Not visibleUranusPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
03 Sep 2022 Not visibleDschubbaPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
05 Sep 2022 Not visibleNunkiPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
14 Sep 2022 Not visibleUranusPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
30 Sep 2022 Not visibleDschubbaPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
03 Oct 2022 Not visibleNunkiPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
12 Oct 2022 Not visibleUranusPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
27 Oct 2022 In daylight; low altitude10:04 EDT10:33 EDTDschubbaPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
30 Oct 2022 Not visibleNunkiPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
08 Nov 2022 Not visibleUranusPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
26 Nov 2022 Not visibleNunkiPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
05 Dec 2022 Not visibleUranusPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
08 Dec 2022 Not visibleMarsPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »
21 Dec 2022 Low altitude05:20 EST05:42 ESTDschubbaPNG | PDF | SVG | KMZMore »

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