The Moon will pass in front of Spica (Alpha Virginis), creating a lunar occultation visible from South America, Western Africa and the Caribbean. Although the occultation will only be visible across part of the world – because the Moon is so close to the Earth that its position in the sky varies by as much as two degrees across the world – a close conjunction between the pair will be more widely visible.
The occultation will be visible from Cambridge. It will begin with the disappearance of Spica (Alpha Virginis) behind the Moon at 18:41 EDT, though in daylight. Its reappearance will be visible at 19:48 EDT, though in daylight.
Extreme caution is necessary when pointing binoculars or telescopes at the sky when the Sun is above the horizon, as even a momentary glance at the Sun through such an instrument can cause permanent blindness.
The map below shows the visibility of the occultation across the world. Separate contours show where the disappearance of Spica (Alpha Virginis) is visible (shown in red), and where its reappearance is visible (shown in blue). 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.
Outside the contours, the Moon will not pass in front of Spica (Alpha Virginis) at any time, or is below the horizon at the time of the occultation. However, a close conjunction between the pair will be visible across much of the world.
The map can be downloaded in PNG , PDF or SVG format. A KMZ file , is also available, which can be opened in Google Earth to provide a higher resolution map.
A complete list of the countries and territories where the occultation will be visible is as follows:
| Country | Time span (UTC) |
| Brazil | 23:44–02:19 |
| Venezuela | 23:15–01:11 |
| Colombia | 23:14–00:46 |
| Mali | 01:21–02:13 |
| Ivory Coast | 01:21–02:21 |
| Guinea | 01:17–02:19 |
| Guyana | 23:36–01:26 |
| Senegal | 01:16–02:04 |
| Suriname | 23:46–01:32 |
| Mauritania | 01:24–01:56 |
| Liberia | 01:19–02:24 |
| French Guiana | 23:52–01:37 |
| Sierra Leone | 01:18–02:19 |
| Dominican Republic | 22:54–00:30 |
| Guinea-Bissau | 01:15–02:06 |
| Haiti | 22:53–00:22 |
| Burkina Faso | 01:23–02:08 |
| Gambia | 01:17–01:59 |
| Puerto Rico | 23:02–00:38 |
| Cape Verde | 01:06–01:43 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 23:26–01:03 |
| Guadeloupe | 23:14–00:51 |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 23:21–00:58 |
| Turks and Caicos Islands | 22:50–00:20 |
| Barbados | 23:24–01:02 |
| British Virgin Islands | 23:05–00:40 |
| Martinique | 23:18–00:55 |
| Curacao | 23:15–00:37 |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | 23:10–00:47 |
| Saint Lucia | 23:19–00:57 |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | 23:05–00:41 |
| Antigua and Barbuda | 23:11–00:48 |
| Dominica | 23:16–00:53 |
| Anguilla | 23:08–00:44 |
| Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba | 23:09–00:44 |
| Grenada | 23:22–00:58 |
| Montserrat | 23:12–00:48 |
| Aruba | 23:14–00:32 |
| Sint Maarten | 23:09–00:44 |
| Saint Barthelemy | 23:09–00:44 |
| Saint Helena | 01:27–02:31 |
| Saint Martin | 23:08–00:43 |
Lunar occultations are only ever visible from a small fraction of the Earth's surface. 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 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.
At the time of the occultation, the Moon will be 6 days past new moon and will be 74% illuminated. Spica (Alpha Virginis) will disappear behind the unilluminated side of the Moon and reappear from behind the illuminated side of the Moon.
The position of Spica (Alpha Virginis) at the moment of the occultation will be as follows:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude | Angular Size |
| Spica (Alpha Virginis) | 13h25m10s | 11°09'S | Virgo | 1.1 | 0'00" |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
Next/previous occultations
| « Previous | Next » | |||
| Visible from the Contiguous United States | Worldwide | Worldwide | Visible from the Contiguous United States | |
| 27 Mar 2043 | 20 May 2043 | Occultations of Spica (Alpha Virginis) | 14 Jul 2043 | 09 Dec 2050 |
| 27 Mar 2043 | 24 May 2043 | Occultations | 20 Jun 2043 | 22 Oct 2043 |
The sky on 17 Jul 2024
| The sky on 17 July 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
83% 12 days old |
All times shown in EDT.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source
The circumstances of this event were computed using the DE430 planetary ephemeris published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
This event was automatically generated by searching the ephemeris for planetary alignments which are of interest to amateur astronomers, and the text above was generated based on an estimate of your location.
Image credit
The Moon in conjunction with Venus and Jupiter, with the Very Large Telescope in the foreground. Image © Y. Beletsky, ESO, 2009.