Two weeks ago there was a rare sight when the moon covered up (occulted) Jupiter for about an hour. I drove down with 2 of my boys to Mizpe Ramon. There, Ira the Star Man hosted a star party at the edge of the Ramon crater.
He had a few different telescopes and cameras set up for the small crowd that gathered.
The weather was perfect, and seeing was great. The Milky way arced overhead, and we saw at least 5 fireball meteors streaking down.
The show started at about 4am when Jupiter and its 4 moons slowly disappeared,one by one, behind the bright edge of the crescent moon. The sky then looked strange with Jupiter missing behind the dark of the Moon. But, right on schedule, Jupiter reappeared past the dark upper edge of the Moon about an hour later.
You can see more of my snapshots, or see Ira's great shots on his Astronomy Israel blog.You can also read a Hebrew report with pics by Gadi who captured the action from the comfort of his roof near Tel Aviv.
