Glossary term: Ocultación
Description: Una ocultación se produce cuando un objeto oculta por completo a otro detrás de sí. Visto desde la Tierra, la Luna pasa con frecuencia por delante de las estrellas. Se dice que estas estrellas son ocultadas por la Luna. Otros objetos del Sistema Solar ocultan ocasionalmente estrellas brillantes.
Las ocultaciones son útiles para estudiar las atmósferas de objetos lejanos del cinturón de Kuiper. Cuando estos cuerpos helados ocultan estrellas, la luz de la estrella atraviesa brevemente la atmósfera del objeto del cinturón de Kuiper. Esta luz queda marcada con las firmas espectrales de la atmósfera del objeto del cinturón de Kuiper cuando llega a la Tierra.
Cuando un objeto pasa por delante de otro pero no lo oculta por completo, se dice que transita por delante del otro 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
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In Other Languages
- Árabe: الاحتجاب
- Alemán: Bedeckung
- Inglés: Occultation
- Francés: Occultation
- Italiano: occultazione
- Portugués de Brasil: Ocultação
- Chino simplificado: 掩星
- Chino 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
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License: PD Public Domain icons
