Moon to pass in front of Comet Tempel 7/15?

While checking out how the moon will cover Antares on the 17th, I noticed that according to Cartes du Ciel that the dark side of the moon will cover Comet Tempel on July 15 at about 11:00 UT. I am at latitude 29N in Louisiana and will not see it. I could not find Comet Tempel anyway with my RV-6. Can anyone else verify this will happen?

Lawrence Regira

Lawrence, thanks for the heads-up. I performed some calculations with my self-written software. It appears there will indeed be an occultation of Comet Tempel 1 by the Moon on July 15. However, it seems the only nighttime opportunities will occur over the western Pacific Ocean east of the Philippines.

For Manila I predict immersion of the comet behind the dark portion of the Moon at 18:52 UT+8 with the Sun still 1° above the horizon. Emersion from the Moon's lighted portion should occur at 19:23 with the Sun 13° beneath the horizon.

Due to the dimness of the comet and lack of good viewing locations, I doubt we will be getting many reports of occultation observations.