# I Watched The Occultation Of Jupiter Tonight **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 16, 2005, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-occultation-of-jupiter-tonight/308527 "2005-06-16T12:55:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-occultation-of-jupiter-tonight/308527/1 "2005-06-16T12:55:05Z")
It was great: it was early in the evening {6.15 NZ time}, and I took Little Case outside with the binoculars - patchy cloud, but it cleared in time to give us a good view from the balcony. We watched Jupiter slowly slide behind the moon, and then went out an hour later to watch it reappear: meanwhile, I was engaged with an orange, a golfball and a torch trying to explain what had happened. Luckily, the paper had a really great graphic and article, which I’m going to save for him: the next one won’t be visible in these parts for another 70 years. ---
**Author:** ![Gerome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Gerome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerome)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-occultation-of-jupiter-tonight/308527/2 "2005-06-16T13:13:27Z")
Dammit, I looked at the moon earlier and said to myself, “that’s a mighty bright star right there next to the moon…” If only i’d investigated further. Damn and blast. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-occultation-of-jupiter-tonight/308527/3 "2005-06-16T13:40:11Z")
So “occultation” means all the Jupiterians started sacrificing cats and listening to Ozzy Osbourne and reading Harry Potter? ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-occultation-of-jupiter-tonight/308527/4 "2005-06-16T21:32:57Z")
> [@Gerome](#): > > Dammit, I looked at the moon earlier and said to myself, “that’s a mighty bright star right there next to the moon…” > > If only i’d investigated further. Damn and blast. You’ll know better next time. ---
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-occultation-of-jupiter-tonight/308527/5 "2005-06-16T23:00:35Z")
Shoot. Why didn’t you tell us _beforehand!_😉 I just got a new scope, too … ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-occultation-of-jupiter-tonight/308527/6 "2005-06-17T00:42:20Z")
I thought the title was “I Watched the **Occupation** of Jupiter Tonight.” Not that Astronomy isn’t cool. But interplanetary war is cooler. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-occultation-of-jupiter-tonight/308527/7 "2005-06-17T08:41:15Z")
Missed it. Didn’t even know it was happening. :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-occultation-of-jupiter-tonight/308527/8 "2005-06-17T09:40:05Z")
I think it was a Southern hemisphere thing. Jupiter was visible in Australia during daylight it was so bright.