Thanks to a heads up from our EH editor, Tim Philp, the moon will be occulting the Pleiades star cluster early on the morning of Fri August 14, 2009.

Starting around 4am local time, the moon will slowly glide in front of various stars in the Pleiades cluster, causing the stars to wink out and back again. I haven’t checked if there will be any “grazers” from our latitude, but it will be a nice show, easy to spot with the clear forecast predicted for the early morning. (The only weather risk appears to be some fog.) At that time, the moon will be high in the sky, almost due South.

Each star occulted by the moon will blank out for about an hour (the time it takes the moon to travel it’s own width across the sky). Since it’s passing through the heart of the cluster, it will take several hours and may continue past sunrise. (This will be “potentially” an interesting opportunity to see stars with a scope during early daylight since the moon will be easier to spot, and therefore know where to find some brighter stars.)

This will be visible from anywhere, even from within the city, and you won’t need a scope. But binos or a scope, as well as a darker location, will allow you to see more stars being covered, and generally make the show even more impressive.

So if you are an early morning person, or are willing to make the effort, you should be well rewarded. This will also be a great photo-op. You might even catch a few straggling Perseids.