Glossary term: Ocultação
Description: Uma ocultação ocorre quando um objeto esconde totalmente outro atrás de si. Quando vista da Terra, a Lua passa frequentemente na frente das estrelas. Diz-se que essas estrelas são ocultadas pela Lua. Outros objetos do Sistema Solar ocasionalmente também ocultam estrelas brilhantes.
As ocultações são úteis para estudar as atmosferas de objetos distantes do Cinturão de Kuiper. Quando esses corpos gelados ocultam estrelas, a luz da estrela passa brevemente pela atmosfera do objeto do Cinturão de Kuiper. Ao chegar à Terra, essa luz traz impressas as assinaturas espectrais da atmosfera desse objeto.
Quando um objeto passa na frente de outro, mas não o oculta totalmente, diz-se que ele transita diante do outro objeto.
Related Terms:
See this term in other languages
Term and definition status: The original definition of this term in English have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher The translation of this term and its definition is still awaiting approval
The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".
If you notice a factual or translation error in this glossary term or definition then please get in touch.
In Other Languages
- Árabe: الاحتجاب
- Alemão: Bedeckung
- Inglês: Occultation
- Espanhol: Ocultación
- Francês: Occultation
- Italiano: occultazione
- Chinês Simplificado: 掩星
- Chinês Tradicional: 掩星
Related Media
Rhea reappearing after occultation by Titan
Caption: On October 27, 2009, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft orbiting around Saturn captured this view of Saturn's moon Rhea as it began to emerge after being hidden by Saturn's largest moon Titan during an occultation. An occultation is a celestial event in which one object moves in front of another and temporarily blocks the first object from view.
In this image, Titan — about 5,150 km across — was closer to the spacecraft at about 1 million km, while Rhea — roughly 1,528 km in diameter — was farther away at about 2.3 million km. Titan’s high-altitude atmospheric haze is visible as a faint glow around its limb, showing the difference in surface and atmospheric properties between these two moons.
Scientists study occultations like this because watching how one moon disappears behind or reappears from another helps refine our understanding of their orbits and physical characteristics.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
credit link
License: PD Public Domain icons
