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by Matt Tarlach
Caught the occultation of Uranus last night from my backyard (121.3W, 38.6N). It was a little later than I expected, beginning at about 5:09:55 UT - this is approximate as I was unable to see the dark limb of the moon, or consistently resolve the disk of Uranus through the poor seeing, so I had to judge by when the planet appeared to dim. Second contact came at 05:10:10, so it appeared to take about 14 sec from first contact for the planet to disappear. Despite the conditions - a turbulent, smoky sky - it was an enjoyable observation, as I centered my equatorially driven scope on the wavering green apparition of Uranus at 107x and watched the moon swoop in to cover the planet.
After observing the occultation, I turned to Jupiter for a quick look. Seeing was better with the higher altitude of the subject, and at 250x in the 6" f5 I was able to detect three large festoons looping up from the NEB. One of these was transiting at about the time I was looking (5:20 UT), and the others were arranged ahead and behind it on the planet's disk. I initially detected them in white light, then switched to a #25 red filter which enhanced the contrast and made them easier to see. The Equatorial Band and North Temperate Belt appeared prominent, and I'm sure I could have seen more if I had been able to spend more time before packing up.
Earlier in the evening, as I waited for the occultation, the moon had put on a nice show. Clavius and Copernicus were very well placed near the terminator.