occultation

An astronomical phenomenon observed when a planet or moon passes across the line of sight to another body. It is useful for getting information on the position, size, and atmosphere of the body causing the occultation. The rings around Uranus were detected when the planet occulted light from a star.

Day	Time (UT)	Foreground planet	Background object
December 9, 1802	7:36	Mercury	Acrab
December 9, 1808	20:34	Mercury	Saturn
December 22, 1810	6:32	Venus	Xi-2 Sagittarii
January 3, 1818	21:52	Venus	Jupiter
July 11, 1825	9:10	Venus	Delta-1 Tauri
July 11, 1837	12:50	Mercury	Eta Geminorum
May 9, 1841	19:35	Venus	17 Tauri
September 27, 1843	18:00	Venus	Eta Virginis
December 16, 1850	11:28	Mercury	Lambda Sagittarii
May 22, 1855	5:04	Venus	Epsilon Geminorum
June 30, 1857	0:25	Saturn	Delta Geminorum
December 5th, 1865	14:20	Mercury	Lambda Sagittarii
February 28, 1876	5:13	Jupiter	Acrab
June 7, 1881	20:54	Mercury	Epsilon Geminorum
December 9, 1906	17:40	Venus	Acrab
July 27, 1910	2:53	Venus	Eta Geminorum
June 10, 1940	2:21	Mercury	Epsilon Geminorum
October 25, 1947	1:45	Venus	Zuben-el-genubi
July 7, 1959	14:30	Venus	Regulus
September 27, 1965	15:31	Mercury	Eta Virginis
May 13, 1971	20:00	Jupiter	Beta Scorpii (both components)
April 8, 1976	1:00	Mars	Epsilon Geminorum
November 17, 1981	14:27	Venus	Nunki
November 19, 1984	1:32	Venus	Lambda Sagittarii
February 17, 2035	15:19	Venus	Pi Sagittarii
October 1, 2044	22:00	Venus	Regulus
February 23, 2046	19:24	Venus	Rho-1 Sagittarii
November 10, 2052	7:20	Mercury	Zuben-el-genubi
November 22, 2065	12:45	Venus	Jupiter
July 15, 2067	11:56	Mercury	Neptune
October 3, 2078	22:00	Mars	Theta Ophiuchi
August 11, 2079	1:30	Mercury	Mars
October 27, 2088	13:43	Mercury	Jupiter
April 7, 2094	10:48	Mercury	Jupiter

These events are not visible everywhere the occulting body and the occulted body are above the skyline.

19 Sep 1702 - Jupiter occults Neptune 20 Jul 1705 - Mercury transits Jupiter 14 Jul 1708 - Mercury occults Uranus 04 Oct 1708 - Mercury transits Jupiter 28 May 1737 - Venus occults Mercury 29 Aug 1771 - Venus transits Saturn 21 Jul 1793 - Mercury occults Uranus 09 Dec 1808 - Mercury transits Saturn 03 Jan 1818 - Venus transits Jupiter 22 Nov 2065 - Venus transits Jupiter 15 Jul 2067 - Mercury occults Neptune 11 Aug 2079 - Mercury occults Mars 27 Oct 2088 - Mercury transits Jupiter 07 Apr 2094 - Mercury transits Jupiter 21 Aug 2104 - Venus occults Neptune 14 Sep 2123 - Venus transits Jupiter 29 Jul 2126 - Mercury occults Mars 03 Dec 2133 - Venus occults Mercury

The 1737 event was observed by John Bevis at Greenwich Observatory - it is the only detailed account of a mutual planetary occultation.