#occultation

[without-ado]

Lunar Occultation of Venus l Roger Hyman

[quiltofstars]

Mars being occulted by the Moon on January 13, 2025 // Dom Schepis

[meme-xx]

NO WAR

Moon and Spica, just before occultation (Aug. 10, 2024)

[uwmspeccoll]

Milestone Monday

Uranus Exposed

On this day, March 10, 1977, astronomers made a significant discovery regarding Uranus��its rings. This finding was particularly noteworthy because, prior to this, only the rings of Saturn were known. During a stellar occultation (fancy words for "watching a star play hide and seek with a planet”), astronomers James L. Elliot, Edward W. Dunham, and Jessica Mink found these rings while using the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. So, on that fateful day, we learned that Uranus was not just a planet with a funny name!

Astronomers discovered nine of the thirteen currently known rings on this occasion. The Hubble Space Telescope, which captured images between 2003 and 2005, observed the two most recently identified rings. It is believed that the Uranian ring system likely originated from several moons that once orbited around the planet and ultimately collided with each another.

The rings are considered relatively young, a mere 600 million years old. Speaking of being old, this is the exact day one of my brothers was born, who is sometimes a pain in my, well, you can guess where this is headed. (I couldn’t resist being a little cheeky.)  Happy 48th Birthday, Lance!

In honor of these occasions, here are images from a book in our pop-up collection: 

Space: a Star-Studded Journey of Discovery! written by Peter Bond, illustrated by Kim Thompson, along with design and paper engineering by Andy Mansfield. It was published in New York by Sandy Creek in 2008. This out-of-this-world pop-up book, filled with captivating facts, flaps, tabs, and booklets, will take you on an exhilarating journey through the cosmos!

-View more Milestone Monday posts

--Melissa, Special Collections Library Assistant

[galactic-writes]

Occultation Intro and Nav

You only have two things you’re supposed to do this year: graduate and keep working at the diner in the meantime. What you’re not supposed to do is find your missing classmate’s dead body and you’re definitely not supposed to discover an entire supernatural society hiding in plain sight. 

But that’s exactly what you do. 

The body isn’t the first to turn up and it won’t be the last as you’re dragged into a mystery filled with ghosts, magic, and shapeshifters. You do your best to keep yourself and your family from becoming targets, but you might be more connected to the murders than you know.

---

Occultation is a supernatural/urban fantasy interactive fiction game in early development.

The project is planned to be made in Twine and published on itch.io

Character Introductions / Progress Updates / Tag Navigation

Customizable MC; customize the main character’s gender, pronouns, personality, appearance, college major, and more!

5 Romance Options; hang out with your best friend, argue with the grumpy investigator, learn more with that mysterious student, reconnect with your childhood friend, explore the city with the new tourist; become friends or romance them!

Choose your route; investigate the murders, uncover family secrets, flirt with your RO of choice, or just try to get through the semester!

Learn about the supernatural; learn alongside the MC about the supernatural world, from ghosts and magic to werewolves and mermaids.

Ash Saha - The Best Friend

Your best friend, classmate, and coworker. Neither of you can remember if you met at school or at the diner where you both work, but you’ve been inseparable ever since.

Blake Blakesley - The Private Investigator

A young PI who frequents the diner and has a bit of a grudge against you. They’re investigating some local disappearances and are very serious about their job.

Jo Fabron - The Mysterious Student

Another student you met when you stumbled upon their study spot. They’re incredibly studious—though you have no clue what their major is–and very withdrawn.

Mac Hayward - The Childhood Friend

You haven’t spoken in years, but your families knew each other so you spent a lot of time together growing up. Last you heard, they were working at their family’s auto shop.

Toks Keadee - The Tourist

An interesting customer who started coming into the diner. She travels a lot and wants to know more about the area and about you—maybe she’ll stick around for a while?

I’m Percy (he/they), the author and owner of this blog! This is a side blog, liking and following from my main @galacticdemigod​

I’m a big fan of fiction, both in traditional books and games, and I’m also quite interested in history! xx

[euphorictruths]

Occultation- Valerie Meijer

[anomalocariscanadensis]

Sundown at noontime Sunrise at midnight Writings in starlight Full sail through pale light Dreams fill thin hours streams to the falls here is forgotten The darkness is fleeting for a while...

[fieriframes]

[Really crazy. The toasting of it, yet, 874 The occultation of the Twelfth Imam, or the Mahdi, that was the game changer. Graham crackers, got to have it in there.]

[prokopetz]

I understand why a lot of fantasy settings with Ambiguously Catholic organised religions go the old "the Church officially forbids magic while practising it in secret in order to monopolise its power" route, but it's almost a shame because the reality of the situation was much funnier.

Like, yes, a lot of Catholic clergy during the Middle Ages did practice magic in secret, but they weren't keeping it secret as some sort of sinister top-down conspiracy to deny magic to the Common People: they were mostly keeping it secret from their own superiors. It wasn't one of those "well, it's okay when we do it" deals: the Church very much did not want its local priests doing wizard shit. We have official records of local priests being disciplined for getting caught doing wizard shit. And the preponderance of evidence is that most of them would take their lumps, promise to stop doing wizard shit, then go right back to doing wizard shit.

It turns out that if you give a bunch of dudes education, literacy, and a lot of time on their hands, some non-zero percentage of them are going to decide to be wizards, no matter how hard you try to stop them from being wizards.

[nephritebabie]

pick your poison LMAOOO

[without-ado]

Lunar occultation of Venus l Nov. 2023

l Stephen Cheatley l Chris Jones l Josh Dury

[quiltofstars]

The Moon occulting Saturn // Eric Smith

[meme-xx]

NO WAR

Moon and Antares (Sep. 21, 2023)

[galactic-writes]

Character Introductions

---

Romance Options

Ash Saha - The Best Friend

Your best friend, classmate, and coworker. Neither of you can remember if you met at school or at the diner where you both work, but you’ve been inseparable ever since.

Name: Ashmit (male) / Ashmita (female) / Ash (nonbinary)

Appearance: Brown skin and deep brown downturned eyes. Thick black wavy hair. If male, hair is mid-back length and half up in a loose bun; if female, hair is shoulder-length and parted to the side; if nonbinary, hair is short and parted in the middle with curtain bangs. Wears casual sporty clothes and gold jewelry, including multiple ear piercings. 5'7.

Likes: hiking, bad ghost/monster hunting shows, chocolate ice cream

Dislikes: self-absorbed people, exams, grape-flavored things

Birthday: Dec 11

MBTI: ENFJ-T

Blake Blakesley - The Private Investigator

A young PI who frequents the diner and has a bit of a grudge against you. They’re investigating some local disappearances and are very serious about their job.

Name: Vincent (male) / V (nonbinary)

Appearance: Olive skin and deep-set amber eyes. Straight brown hair. If male, hair is in a short quiff haircut. If nonbinary, hair is in a short mullet with fade. Wears business casual or casual clothes. 5’10.

Likes: puzzles, running, Fall

Dislikes: crime dramas, perfume, spicy food

Birthday: Oct 4

MBTI: ISTJ-A

Jo Fabron - The Mysterious Student

Another student you met when you stumbled upon their study spot. They’re incredibly studious—though you have no clue what their major is–and very withdrawn.

Name: Joan

Appearance: Light, freckled skin and round gray eyes. Thick sandy blonde hair cut in a shoulder-length shag. Wears retro style ‘smart casual’ clothes. 6’0.

Likes: 90s alt-rock, summer, reading

Dislikes: social media, being alone, chalk

Birthday: Jan 24

MBTI: INTJ-A

Mac Hayward - The Childhood Friend

You haven’t spoken in years, but your families knew each other so you spent a lot of time together growing up. Last you heard, they were working at their family’s auto shop.

Name: Malachi (male) / Marcia (female)

Appearance: Light brown skin and black almond-shaped eyes. Tightly curled black hair. If male, hair is in short two-strand twists or a twist out. If female, hair is in shoulder-length flat twists or a twist out (worn in a low bun at work). Wears sturdy workwear clothing and baseball caps. 5’11.

Likes: movie nights, gardening, their family

Dislikes: sour candy, paperwork, change

Birthday: Jun 8

MBTI: ISFJ-T

Toks Keadee - The Tourist

An interesting customer who started coming into the diner. She travels a lot and wants to know more about the area and about you—maybe she’ll stick around for a while?

Name: Olatokunbo

Appearance: Dark brown skin and dark brown round eyes. Coily black hair, currently styled in medium-length goddess braids in black, dark blue, and dark red. Wears bright, colorful clothes with many beaded gemstone bracelets. 5’9.

Likes: meeting new people, fluffy animals, fireworks

Dislikes: coffee, secrets, being stuck in one place

Birthday: Feb 23

MBTI: ENFP-A