the.com/occultation
the universe's biggest object briefly photobombing the universe's smallest visible light.
means In astronomy, the event when one celestial body passes in front of and hides another from view, such as the Moon slipping in front of a distant star.
from From Latin 'occultare,' to hide or conceal — a frequentative of 'occulere,' to cover over. The same dark root gives us 'occult,' the hidden and the secret; here it simply describes one heavenly body drawing its veil across another.
- how it works
- Nearer body slides in front, hiding a farther one
- ring discovery
- Uranus's rings found via a 1977 stellar occultation
- timing precision
- Reveals asteroid shapes down to a few kilometers
- the moon
- Regularly occults stars and entire planets
- word root
- From Latin occultare, meaning to hide or conceal