Three bright major planets will be occulted in 2008. There is probably little new that can be learned from occultations of major planets events in this age of space exploration, but they are still interesting to watch. Photometric records, possibly derived from video recordings, could be used to determine the sizes of these asteroids, although timings of occultations of stars by minor planets give more accurate information. - D. DunhamAll times given in these predictions are in Universal Time. Predictions included both disappearance and reappearance times, although depending on the phase of the moon, one or the other may not be possible to observe at the instant of the event. When Moon % is "+" (waxing), the star will disappear on the dark side, and reappearance is on the bright side; when the Moon % is "-" (waning), the star will reappear on the dark side, and disappearance on the bright side. Observing disappearances and reappearance of stars on the bright side are difficult, and accuracies in timing these events are not reliable.If there are no predications with the accompanying map of coverage, it is because it is either a daytime event, or in sparsely located regions where cities in the Occult database do not exist
How to convert the predicted time to your site location time using the A/B factor
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Date UT - Time Planet Mag. Moon(%) Visible Area 20 Jan - 00hr Mars -0.8 91+ NW North America, Arctic 05 Mar - 12hr Mercury +0.3 6- South & East South America 05 Mar - 17hr Venus -3.3 5- North America, Cuba 10 May - 14hr Mars +1.5 34+ Europe, N Africa, SW Asia 08 Jun - 01hr Mars +1.7 24+ New Zealand 23 Jun - 08hr Neptune 7.9 81- North America/Mexico 01 Dec - 17hr Venus -3.7 13+ Europe, NW Africa
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