Colin, Max and myself went scouting for locations in mid-coast Maine this morning to locate a set up spot near the central axis of the path. We found a fantastic spot in Alna, we spoke with the property owner who gave permission and we’re good to go with an excellent view to the east. We’ll be meeting at 0430 Monday morning on site for set up. Occultation is at 0535.
As I said in my earlier email notification, this is a rare “grazing” occultation visible from our area. This means the star will blink in and out of visibility as the mountains and crater lips along the limb of the moon pass in front of the star. We’ll be about the last astronomers in the US to see this as the shadow quickly passes offshore in South Thomaston. We’ll literally be straddling the center of the prediction path so the more folks that come with scopes the better our results that we can report to the International Occultation Timing Association. Or, if you just want to watch, come on down. Contact me directly for the site address. You should have my email, jjc@structureguard.com, cell 207-701-8888 or home @ 273-1699. We hope to see some folks turn out. We’ll be done and off site by 0600….
Regards,
Jim Curry
Omicron Leonis grazing occultation: Coastal Maine was cloud covered so no one mobilized in the early AM. A few heads poked out around 0345 to confirm. Many thanks to Colin Caissie, Jon Silverman, Max Arnold and prospective member Dave Emery from Tenants Harbor for their interest in observing this event. I think we learned a lot about the logistics and planning required so it was not a waste of time. As a point of interest, it turned out there was a Cloudy Nights member from Texas visiting Portland this weekend. He had contacted me and wanted to travel to Alna to observe with us if the weather would have cooperated.