So, for the eight of you who will actually read this blog a) over the weekend, b) over the holiday (yes, holiday) weekend, and c) in the United States and Canada, you may get a special treat.
On Christmas morning, the Moon will occult (pass in front of) the bright star Spica. Star occultations are pretty neat. You can watch the Moon get closer to the star, and closer, and then blip! The star is gone.
What you see and when you see it depends on where you live. For me, in northern California, I miss the whole thing (if it doesn’t rain — and it will — I will see the Moon pass very close to Spica, but it’ll be a clean miss). Check the link above to see where you stand. There are diagrams there (like the one I stole reproduced above) that’ll help.
Oh– you won’t need a telescope or binoculars or anything. Just your eyes, and, most likely, a warm coat. And coffee! It’ll happen early in the morning for most folks.
I think (hope) that Sky and Telescope will forgive me for using the image. I write for them. 
December 24th, 2005 at 5:55 pm
The good news is I’ll be at work, outdoors. The bad news is, it will likely be overcast.
December 24th, 2005 at 6:36 pm
I doubt BA really undersatnds just how many people read his blog! 8 indeed…with me it’ll be at least nine.
Merry Christmas to all and a safe and prosperous New Year!
December 24th, 2005 at 7:41 pm
But I live on the other side of the globe!
December 24th, 2005 at 8:34 pm
Mike, my stats indicate the BABLog gets thousands of readers. But that number drops precipitously on the weekend, and who knows over the holiday!
December 24th, 2005 at 10:14 pm
I’m reading. Twice a day habit.
December 24th, 2005 at 11:31 pm
Great, one of the 8 who actually reads this, and as it turns out, the information is lost on us in Hawaii. Well, maybe sometime in the future, we’ll be able to catch an occultation, till then, I should probably go to Moana Kea and enjoy the nice stable airmass providing such a wonderful view of the heavens.
December 25th, 2005 at 12:53 am
Well, let’s see. I live in SoCal, but if we have a major quake which brings mass closer to the center of the Earth, it’ll speed up the Earth’s rotation, and . . .
December 25th, 2005 at 12:56 am
Merry Christmas to all the Bad Astronomers (that doesn’t sound right, does it!).
December 25th, 2005 at 5:43 am
MERRY X-MAS TO ALL IN THIS BLOG
December 25th, 2005 at 6:12 am
I’m reading – but I am in Norway, unfortunately.
Merry Christmas!
December 25th, 2005 at 7:04 am
I’m glad to be one of the eight to read the BA Blog. Regrettably it was cloudy where I am in Minnesota so I could not see the occult of Spica. For those who did see it I hope it was cool. Merry Christmas to all.
December 25th, 2005 at 10:42 am
Love your little blogs on all the neat events and other stuff, things I would never find for myself. Unfortunately clouds will prevent me from seeing the Spica event. I’m in Canada, lower great lakes region. Seems lately the land of rain and clouds. Happy holidays to all .
December 25th, 2005 at 11:51 am
Unlucky 13th post
Merry Xmas Phil & everyone else!!!
December 25th, 2005 at 12:06 pm
BA,
I just recently started reading your blog, but it’s already become a daily habit. Even on Christmas!
Unfortunately, the weather here in Wisconsin didn’t justify getting up early for this event (and my daughters are old enough they’d rather sleep in, too).
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.
Randy Griffin
Vice President, Sheboygan Astronomical Society
December 25th, 2005 at 1:28 pm
So… could the astronomers in the crowd explain to me what the big deal is about this, exactly?
I missed it, by the way. I didn’t read this until a couple of hours after it had already passed. Oh well.
December 25th, 2005 at 3:07 pm
Merry xmas to all! …We’re more than 8 apparently
As for the occultation… Shucks.
December 25th, 2005 at 5:18 pm
Read the blog; though after the event happened. Though I don’t think I missed anything since the map shows it happened in daylight where I am at.
I count more than 8 people commenting.
December 25th, 2005 at 5:31 pm
Here is a Christmas gift for all of you.
I can now do an FFT in O(N) operations instead of O(N ln N).
Doesnt that save you time and money, as well as increase the
sensititivity of your experimental results.
Merry Christmas, and I will produce paper on the simple algebra
soon.
Regards,
Dr. Chalmers
December 26th, 2005 at 12:28 am
Wouldnt have mattered much here in Rainy thank goodness not SNOWY Indiana. I guess at leastt 19 of us feel compelled to reply so that the BA doesn’t off himself in a ’bout of holiday depression! JK
December 26th, 2005 at 2:42 am
I missed it, due to the fact that it was not visable here in Israel, well that and the weather was really awful. I was running around Jerusalem yesterday doing errands and managed to get soaked to the skin by heavy rain and sleat/hail.
Now as Israel is a desert we should be thankful when it rains, but why did it have to do it on the day when I was running around town.
December 26th, 2005 at 2:54 am
Early predictions about eight readers crushed mercilessly. Yeah, Phil, you sure ain’t a good oracle… No one is
Anyway, Merry Christmas to the world.
(I didn’t see the event, because I wasn’t on its trail AND it’s pretty snowy here
)
December 26th, 2005 at 11:26 am
BB – It’s cool because
a) occultations are used to refine star positions and planetary orbits to greater precision, and map surface features on the moon.
b) it looks cool. No, it looks really cool. Pity I live in the wrong (cloudy) part of the world.
December 26th, 2005 at 2:33 pm
I can’t believe I misspelled Mauna Kea. Oh well, maybe a nice Christmas gift this year would be the lack of dyslexia. In all seriousness, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, as well as any denominational holiday, to all.
December 27th, 2005 at 10:26 am
I MISSED IT!!! It was cloudy anyway.