The gibbous Moon takes aim at one of the brightest stars of Capricornus tonight. In fact, as seen from much of the United States it’ll actually hide the star in the wee hours of tomorrow morning. The star is known as Dabih or Beta Capricornii. It’s not all that bright, but it’s close to the left of the Moon as night falls, which will help you pick it out. As the hours roll by, the Moon will slide closer to the star. Eventually, it’ll pass directly in front of the star, blocking it from view. Such an event is called an occultation. And it’s not just something to look at — it can have scientific value as well. In fact, much of what we know about Dabih has come from earlier occultations. Through binoculars or a small telescope, Dabih shows two stars. They’re so far apart that it may take a million years for them to orbit each other. What we can’t see, even with the largest telescopes, is that each of these points of light actually consists of more than one star. One of them has at least t
