7 December 2004

Observing Location	Opposite the entrance to Coco Plum Beach, Coco Plum Boulevard, Marathon, FL Lat: 24° 43.839' Long:81° 00.113' This was a dark sky sight as far as I am concerned. I saw many more stars than I normally do and had trouble finding things because of it. When I looked at my usual limiting magnitude locations I didn't feel that I was seeing any deeper but I must have been since there were more stars to be seen overall. Maybe there aren't any more stars between those that I can see and my true limiting magnitude in the areas where I am looking. The Milky Way was easily seen as a faint white stripe across the sky. There were some sodium vapor area lights to the west that made seeing anything in that area difficult and lights from the city of Marathon washed out some of the view to the south.
Atmospheric Conditions	The weather had been changeable all evening as I drove from Miami International Airport down through the Keys. At times I was seeing lots of stars and at other times I could tell I was seeing clouds. The road was wet for a stretch at Isleamorada. At Marathon it got very cloudy a couple of times and there was even a brief rain shower before the beginning of the occultation. Clouds covered the moon a couple of times during the occultation, but never so densely that Ganymede and Callisto could not be seen. The wind was pretty steady at 6-7 MPH with occasional gusts up to 11 MPH. The temperature was a pleasant 74 F.
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie Dob - Hal 8" Meade SCT - Charlie Meade 14" SCT - Fred Meade 8" SCT with Web camera - Don
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Harold Povenmire & wife Charlie Fred & wife Bob & wife Tony & wife

Naked-eye Limiting Magnitude Observations	Star Magnitude 49 Ori 4.82 Thabit, υ Ori 4.64 32 Ori 4.22 Meissa, λ Ori 3.56 37 φ1 Ori 4.43 40 φ2 Ori 4.11 Nair al Saif, ι Ori 2.79 Sigma 747 5.5 71 Tau 4.51 Hyadum I 3.67 Hyadum II 3.78 68 δ Tau 4.31 Ain, ε Tau 3.55

Target	Saturm
Constellation	Gem
Category	Planets
Time	8Dec07; 0007 UTC
Comments	Ciggar shaped and inclined to the upper right. I could see the moons which I think were numbered 1, 2 and 3 in SatMoons.

Target	M42
Constellation	Ori
Category	Deep Space Objects
Time	7Dec04; 0010
Comments	M42 was amazing in my binoculars. I could see more nebulosity than we have ever seen from Central Park in Peter's 10" Teleport. There was "haze" everywhere.

Target	Jupiter Occultation
Category	Occultation
Constellation	Vir
Time	7Dec04; 0505 EST
Comments	The last time a dark moon Occulted Jupiter that was visible in the US was on 19 October 1968 in the western and central states, and the last time a Jupiter dark sky occultation was visible in New York City was 3 September 1889. The next "favorable" Jupiter occultation will not be visible in North America until 6 October 2026. The moon is a waning crescent illuminated 27% at 24 days, 18 hours. Sky and Telescope graphic The path of the Moon in front of Jupiter from various east coast locations. The position of Jupiter's moons as the planet is uncovered by the Moon. Ganymede is on the right, Callisto in the center and Europa is to the left of Jupiter. Io is behind Jupiter. This graphic was generated by JupSat95. Body Magnitude Moon -9. Jupiter -1.8 Ganymede 4.61 Io 5.02 Europa 5.29 Callisto 5.65 We set up anticipating seeing a grazing occultation but saw a full occultation instead. We needed to have been farther north, maybe the end of Coco Plum Drive right on the water would have been a better spot after all. But it was still an enjoyable event. Predicted Time Observed Time Event UTC Duration UTC Duration Callisto Ingress Begins 09:24:03 00:00:20 Callisto Disappears 09:22:24 00:00:06 09:24:23 00:00:07 Callisto Egress Begins 09:24:30 00:01:12 Callisto Reappears 09:25:42 Jupiter Ingress Begins 00:00:06 09:19:43 00:06:09 Jupiter Disappears     09:25:52 00:06:26 Io Disappears 09:24:16 00:00:10.9 ZC1850 Reappears 09:29:50   09:30:33 Jupiter Egress Begins 09:30:05   09:32:18 00:07:49 Io Reappears 09:36:13   Jupiter Reappears 09:36:29   09:40:07 Europa Reappears 09:40:46 00:00:06.2 Time HHMM:SS UTC Event 0847:17 UTC There is a group of sphericle of clouds right now - can't even tell where the Moon should be. Its appearing farther up with ... spacing up on both sides. 0850:28 UTC The clouds are really heavy. 0853:16 UTC The dark part of the cloud is about to come off of the Moon. The cloud appears to be slipping to the left and the moon moving to the right. 0855:16 UTC The Moon is now visible and so is Jupiter. The Moon a little bit above the lower ...in the neighborhood of Grimaldi. 0855:48 UTC I see a moon [Ganymede] above Jupiter. 0856:03 UTC I see two moons above, one close to the planet [Callisto]. I don't make out the trailing moon [Europa]. 0857:04 UTC There is earthshine on the dark side of the moon. The terminator is a little bit of a wash with light gray shadow beneath … the few tops of … I sense some mare at the pop of the moon. 0858:37 UTC Its a little bit breezy and that's buffeting the binoculars and the image stabilization batteries are dying. I am not sure if I am better off dealing with the bouncing or replacing the batteries and having the image stabilization. 0901:29 UTC Most of the time 6-7, sometimes gusts to 10 . 0901:45 UTC Temperature about 73 F. 0902:08 UTC Longitude 81° 59.824' Latitude 24° 42.635'. The latitude is fairly stable, longitude wanders a bit. Longitude 59.96'. 0903:21 UTC Longitude is all the way up to 80° 00.02' 0904:16 UTC I can see some field stars on the dark side of the Moon. 0912:47 UTC Naked-eye it looks like Jupiter is right up against the Moon. 0913:03 UTC I can see both moons ahead of Jupiter. The farthest moon out [Ganymede] is just above the horn and the second moon [Callisto] is just a little below and I see a third moon [Europa] just trailing Jupiter. 0914:07 UTC 81° 00.111', 24° 43.840' 0915:45 UTC The first moon [Ganymede] is well past the horn, the second one [Callisto] is just coming up on the horn. 0916:01 UTC Jupiter is still separated a good bit from the limb. 0917:27 UTC The second moon [Callisto] is even with a piece of detached brightness right on the horn of the Moon. 0918:11 UTC Jupiter looks like its just about touching the Moon just below the horn. 0918:38 UTC It can't be, but it looks like Jupiter is burning into the limb of the Moon. 0919:43 UTC It looks to me like the Moon has made contact. ... the beginning of the events. 0920:19 UTC Jupiter is definately ingressing. 0920:40 UTC You can still see both of the leading moons but I can no longer see the trailing moon. 0922:13 UTC The lower moon of the two leading moons [Callisto] looks like its just about laying up against the limb of the planet [the Moon] now. 0922:26 UTC No, I can still see the space without my glasses. 0922:37 UTC It looks like Jupiter is about half gone. 0922:42 UTC It still looks like its burning into the ... of the Moon. 0923:00 UTC Here comes a small cloud. 0923:06 UTC I can see the moons through the cloud yet. 0923:20 UTC The cloud's going to clear, oh, here comes another cloud and this one's a lot denser. 0923:43 UTC The moons are still visible through the cloud. Its actually better, its cutting down the contrast. 0924:03 UTC The moon appears to be dimming. The second moon down {callisto] 0924:13 UTC Definitely dimming, dimming 0924:23.7 UTC Its gone. 0924:30 UTC I think, no, its still right there on the limb. I thought that was detached ... but I think it’s the moon {Callisto]. 0925:42 UTC The moon [Callisto] looks like it is separating. 0926:02 UTC Jupiter is still there riding out ... on the horn but its still mostly … 0926:42 UTC There's a little less of Jupiter there but I can still see it. The moon [Callisto] is still strong. 0926:51 UTC Jupiter is generally 0926:52 UTC Jupiter is gone, gone. 0927:03 UTC Jupiter is completely gone. The upper moon [Ganymede] is far separated from the Moon and the middle, the second moon [Callisto] is separated by ... 0928:03 UTC I can still see the second moon [Callisto]. 0928:45 UTC I guess technically this is a graze [the moon does not go more than 2 degrees below the limb of the moon], but I don't see any flashes of brightness through the mountains. 0929:00 UTC That was 29 minutes and I'm loosing my frequency here. 0929:45 UTC Switched over to a Canadian frequency. 0930:33 UTC I see a star [ZC1850] on the upper limb of the Moon. Its already separated from the Moon. 0931:03 UTC That would be ZC1850. 0931:45 UTC It [ZC1850] still continues to separate. 0932:00 UTC 9:32 0932:18 UTC Jupiter is emerging 0933:38 UTC Jupiter doesn't look round but its starting to look like it might be eating away from the Moon. 0933:56 UTC I did see Chrisium in the earthshine. 0935:00 UTC 9:35 0935:08 UTC Its getting still bigger [Jupiter]. 09335:44 UTC The leading edge of Jupiter appears to be very flattened and the trailing edge eaten into the limb of the Moon. 0936:48 UTC 0937:00 UTC 9:37 0937:48 UTC 0938:46 UTC Jupiter looks like a very bright, flat, blob sitting against the Moon. 0939:04 UTC Real gusty. 0939:27 UTC Image stabilization helps out a lot. 0940:07.31 UTC Its separated. 0940:14 UTC It looks like its completely separated. The trailing edge of Jupiter appears to be round now. 0940:46 UTC Clouds coming in. 0941:10 UTC I can see the Moon. 0948:15 UTC Jupiter looks like it is separated naked-eye now. 0951:21 UTC All right, we're going to pack it in. Pre-Event Hype NASA Space.com Post Event Reports Observing reports from Marathon. Image Gallery from SpaceWeather.com. The 14" Meade became a casualty before the start of the event. While mounting it to the wedge in the dark Fred tripped over the uneven marl or a tripod leg and they both crashed to the ground. The scope suffered extensive damage and is likely beyond repair given the extensive modifications it had undergone that would not be supported by Meade even if it was economically feasible to make the repairs. Fred suffered much less physical damage but was very distraught over the loss if his primary observing instrument. I can sympathize with him. I didn't get any pictures of the event myself. While packing I dropped my digital camera on a bare hardwood floor and the zoom/focus mechanism has gotten jammed again so I left it home. When I set up I found that my film camera was not working. I suspect the light meter batteries had run down in transit and I didn't have an extra set of these with me. [I checked the batteries and one of them is completely dead and the other had plenty of power left.]