Summary: Saturn and the Moon recently experienced a series of close encounters. On Nov. 3, Nov. 30, and Dec. 28, 2001, western observers saw the Moon glide in front of the ringed planet. The next such encounter for North Americans will take place on February 20, 2002.

	Photographer, Location, Local Date	Larger images, videos	Comments
	Jayme Hanzak, Cedar Grove, North Carolina, USA Dec. 28, 2001	Still image: #1, 400 kb RealPlayer video: #2	J. Hanzak: "The movie is a sequence of images taken 10 seconds apart with a Meade LX3 telescope and a cookbook 245 CCD camera. The motion caused by a tracking error in my telescope's mount."
	Daniel Ethier, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA Dec. 28, 2001	#1, #2	D. Ethier: "I took these two photos at 2:47am and 2:49am CST. I used an Orion SVD 6" reflector, with Scopetronix 25mm Plossl, and a Nikon 995, fully zoomed (4x). Exposures were both 1/30 sec. "
[VIDEO]	Randy Marsden, San Diego, California, USA Dec. 28, 2001	250 kb AVI video: #1	R. Marsden: "This video was taken with a Philips Vesta Webcam at the prime focus of an f6.3 Meade LX-200. Light wind makes it a little jerky. "
	Tom A. Warner, Rapid City, South Dakota, USA Dec. 28, 2001	#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6	T. Warner: "Images were taken by eyepiece projection using a Nikon Coolpix 995, a Meade LX200 telescope and 26 mm Plossl. "
	Dr. P. Clay Sherrod, Arkansas Sky Observatory, Arkanas, USA Dec. 28, 2001	#1	Dr. Sherrod: "At the Arkansas Sky Observatory we were VERY fortunate that the clouds broke only 12 minutes prior to this outstanding event! We captured the entire disappearance of Saturn and its ring system with the Observatory's portable telescope, a 7" f/15 Maksutov operating with an Olympus C-3000 camera operating at f/68. "
	Denis Slattery, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA Dec. 28, 2001	#1, #2	D Slattery: "I took these at 12:17 and 12:18 a.m., through an 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain f/10 telescope with a 26mm eyepiece. I used a Nikon Coolpix 995 camera coupled directly to the eyepiece and full optical (4x) zoom. There was thin cloud cover, but I got enough shots to stack 8 for each picture using Astrostack. "

More images (click on the name of the photographer to view the image):
David Ryle (Wichita Falls, TX, USA); Esteban Castro Acuña (San Nicolas de los Garza N.L., Mexico); R. Mark Elowitz (Albuquerque, New Mexico); David Champer (Gallipolis, Ohio)

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November 30, 2001

	Photographer, Location, Local Date	Larger images	Comments
	Doug Murray, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA Nov. 30, 2001	#1, #1 (big)	This extraordinary photo must been seen full-sized to appreciate. It shows the Full Moon about to glide in front of Saturn, which reappeared about an hour later on the other side of the Moon.
	Gary Trapuzzano, Norristown, PA, USA Nov. 30, 2001	#1, #2, #3	Photo Details: TV-85 and a Canon A50 digital camera afocal using 12mm & 9mm Nagler eyepieces. See the photos themselves for additional information.
	Tom J. Martinez, Cleveland, Missouri, USA Nov. 30, 2001	#1	Photo details: Nikon Coopix 995 camera at the eyepiece of a 6" f/5 refractor.
	Bob Sandy, Roanoke County, Virginia, USA Nov. 30, 2001	#1, #2, #3	Photo details: 3 1/2" Questar telescope and an Olympus 3040 digital camera. "Because the Full Moon is 10 times brighter than Saturn, I shot the Moon... then shot Saturn at a different exposure," says Sandy. "The images were then combined to form the final image."
	Jayme Hanzak, Cedar Grove, North Carolina, USA Nov. 30, 2001	#1, #2, #3, #4	P.C. Sherrod: "These pictures were taken with a CB245 CCD camera and an LX3 Meade telescope. The exposures were .1 second in length [and spaced every 15 seconds]."
	Dr. P. Clay Sherrod, Arkansas Sky Observatory, Arkansas, USA Nov. 30, 2001	#1, more	P.C. Sherrod: "We used our public viewing scope, an 8" Meade LX 90 telescope and Olympus digital C-3000 camera with 1/40th second exposures. Saturn's image is suffering from turbulence since it was only 16 degrees from the horizon when taken. The brighter moon is badly 'burned in' from overexposure. Lots of fun, and quickly over!"
	Rick Clevenger, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA Nov. 30, 2001	#1, #2, #3	Photo details: Celestron C-5 telescope, 26mm eyepiece, Nikon Coolpix 990 camera. More: [#1 f7 @ 1/30] [#2 f4.4 @ 1/60] [#3 f4.4 @ 1/125]
	Tom A. Warner, Rapid City, South Dakota, USA Nov. 30, 2001	#1, #2	T. Warner: "I used a Coolpix 995 digital camera with a Meade 8 inch LX200 telescope and 26 mm Plossl eyepiece. The image was captured using eyepiece projection with the digital camera set at ISO 100 and 1/8 sec exposure at f/4.3. "

More images (click on the name of the photographer to view the image):
Dave Martinez (Denver, CO, USA); Matt Orsie (Summit Point, West Virginia); Vince Tuboly (Scutum Observatory, Hungary); Irving Nadelhaft (St Petersburgh, Florida);

	Photographer, Location, Local Date	Larger images	Comments
	Peter Paice, Belfast, Northern Ireland Nov. 3, 2001	#1, #2	P. Paice: "The occultation was quite a spectacle, nearly spoilt by clouds rolling in at the crucial times. [I imaged the event] using a 6" Celestron refractor with afocal coupling to an Olympus 2040Z digital camera on a driven Vixen Polaris mount."
	Ulrich Rieth, near Mainz , Germany Nov. 3, 2001	#1, #2, #3	U. Rieth captured these images of the ringed planet emerging from behind the Moon via eyepiece projection through a 12 inch Meade LX200 SCT. "I used my Canon EOS 50E with a Kodak E200 slide film. The best exposure times were 3 seconds."
	Antoine Gerhardt & Lionel Bernardi, L'Escarène, near Nice, France Nov. 3, 2001	#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8	Gerhardt and Bernardi of the Astro Biniou Club used a C8 telescope and a D1 Nikon camera to capture these photos of the Moon occulting Saturn. The distant planet was behind the Moon for 1 hour.
	Dr. Michel Willemin, Affoltern am Albis, Switzerland Nov. 3, 2001	#1, more	Photo details: Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with F = 2030 mm, f/10 + IR BG39. Philips Vesta Pro Scan camera, mounted at the prime focus, exp. 40 ms
	Jonas Schenker, Oberentfelden, Switzerland Nov. 3, 2001	#1	Photo details: Vixen 900/100 mm Refractor, Nikon Coolpix 950, held by hand behind the eyepiece! Exposure time 1/2 sec. "I nearly suffocated because because I stopped breathing while clicking the camera throughout the occultation!"
	Manfred Wolf & Reinhard Lehman, Germany Nov. 3, 2001	#1, #2	more information (in German)