You may have seen numerous images online of a Saturn/Lunar occultation event on August 21st. This was a complete occultation of Saturn by our Moon; the planet vanished as the Moon covered it for a brief period. A magnificent visual event, visible to the eye through binoculars and, of course, via telescope. Unfortunately, due to the cloud cover, I missed the chance to witness it myself. However, it brought back memories of an equally captivating lunar Saturn grazing I had the privilege to observe and sketch a few years back.
Drawing materials
In 2007, Saturn came visually close to the Moon. Known as a grazing occultation. Above is my sketch from that night. Saturn’s (visually) close encounter with the Moon was on 2/3/2007. Sketched – The Moon using Soft Pastels on 300gm Black Paper + Black watercolour pencil – Sketched Saturn using a White Pencil + Pale Yellow Pastel – Sketch time 00:44UT – 02:33UT – Co Wicklow, Ireland Seeing 2 – 200mm /F6/Meade 25mm, 2XBarlow, Image Rotated 180 degrees.
Close encounter of the Saturn kind
This was too good an opportunity to miss; Saturn was predicted to be within 2 arc minutes of the lunar disc. Its rare that use my 35mm Kellner eyepiece with its chunky two-inch eyepiece adapter, but that nights close encounter was ideal for it. I set up everything around 22:00UT and sat down to think about how to produce this sketch. Obviously had to start with the Moon, and thankfully, it was a cloud-free night.
A grazing occultation is where the edge of the Moon appears to almost touch a distant object like a planet. The planet does not disappear behind the Moon but looks visually very close to doing so. It’s a special kind of occultation as it is visible directly from your point of view. I may be a complete occultation to other observers in other countries.
From memory, it was a freezing cold night. My breath became a mini cloud as it hit the air. I made tea to warm my fingers a few times during the session. I also picked up a pale yellow pastel as I noticed that colour was displayed on the planet’s body. As I worked on my lunar drawing, I checked Saturn’s position regularly. I added some detail to the lunar surface; I didn’t know how much time I had to do that.
Occultations are worth waiting for
It was a waiting game; I wanted to draw Saturn the minute it entered my field of view. Saturn’s movement and sequenced positions as it approached the Moon was smooth, almost gliding. The closer the planet got to the Moon’s limb, the more it looked like a spacecraft coming in for a landing. However, the gas giant appeared to float close to the lunar edge as it travelled through space circa 886 million miles (1.4 billion km) from my garden. What a stunning view, I feel so fortunate to have had this experience.
There is another full Lunar Occultation of Saturn in September but only from a few countries
