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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Norm Goldblatt
Date: 2015 Mar 24, 23:42 -0700
Aldebaran and the Moon were juuuuust fitting in the field of my new 20 x 80 binocs tonight. An occultation was to happen when the Moon was below the horizon. So, I waited 2 hours, and sure enough, the pair fit handily within the field. So, I had actually witnessed the Moon drifting through the star field. Comparing their separation with the published field of my binocs, (3.2 deg), I was able to estimate the angular distance between the two objects as a ratio of the field size. My rough back of the envelope calculations were close to the ephemeris values.
The other 'fun' thing was, that failing the observation of the occultation itself, I satisfied myself with the realization that I had witnessed, first hand, the lunar drift toward the future occultation and I will go to sleep with a big out of focus smile on my face and an eye-roll from my dear wife, ever beleagured by her spouse's eccentricities.
Norm Goldblatt
Mountain View, Ca.
