An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observer. The term is used in astronomy, but can refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks from view an object in the background. In this general sense, occultation applies to the visual scene observed from low-flying aircraft when foreground objects obscure distant objects dynamically, as the scene changes over time. If the closer body does not conceal the farther one, the event is called a transit. Both transit and occultation may be referred to as occlusion; the term occultation is most used to describe those frequent occasions when the Moon passes in front of a star during the course of its orbital motion around the Earth. Since the Moon, with an angular speed with respect to the stars of 0.55 arcsec/s or 2.7 μrad/s, has a thin atmosphere and stars have an angular diameter of at most 0.057 arcseconds or 0.28 μrad, a star, occulted by the Moon will disappear or reappear in 0.1 seconds or less on the Moon's edge, or limb.

Events that take place on the Moon's dark limb are of particular interest to observers, because the lack of glare allows these occultations to more be observed and timed. The Moon's orbit is inclined with respect to the ecliptic meaning any stars with an ecliptic latitude of less than about ± 6.5 degrees may be occulted by it. Three first magnitude stars appear well within that band – Regulus and Antares - meaning they may be occulted by the Moon and/or by planets. Occultations of Aldebaran are in this epoch only possible by the Moon, because the planets pass Aldebaran to the north. Neither planetary nor lunar occultations of Pollux are possible, however in several thousand years this will be the case, as it was in the far past; some notably close deep-sky objects, such as the Pleiades, can be occulted by the Moon. Within a few kilometres of the edge of an occultation's predicted path, referred to as its northern or southern limit, an observer may see the star intermittently disappearing and reappearing as the irregular limb of the Moon moves past the star, creating what is known as a grazing lunar occultation.

From an observational and scientific standpoint, these "grazes" are the most dynamic and interesting of lunar occultations. The accurate timing of lunar occultations is performed by astronomers. Lunar occultations timed to an accuracy of a few tenths of a second have various scientific uses in refining our knowledge of lunar topography. Photoelectric analysis of lunar occultations have discovered some stars to be close visual or spectroscopic binaries; some angular diameters of stars have been measured by timing of lunar occultations, useful for determining effective temperatures of those stars. Early radio astronomers found occultations of radio sources by the Moon valuable for determining their exact positions, because the long wavelength of radio waves limited the resolution available through direct observation; this was crucial for the unambiguous identification of the radio source 3C 273 with the optical quasar and its jet, a fundamental prerequisite for Maarten Schmidt's discovery of the cosmological nature of quasars.

Several times during the year the Moon can be seen occulting a planet. Since planets, unlike stars, have significant angular sizes, lunar occultations of planets will create a narrow zone on Earth from which a partial occultation of the planet will occur. An observer located within that narrow zone could observe the planet's disk blocked by the moving Moon; the same mechanism can be seen with the Sun, where observers on Earth will view it as a solar eclipse. Therefore, a total solar eclipse is simply the Moon occulting the Sun. Stars may be occulted by planets. Occultations of bright stars are rare. In 1959, Venus occulted Regulus, the next occultation of a bright star will be in 2044. Uranus's rings were first discovered when that planet occulted a star in 1977. On 3 July 1989, Saturn passed in front of the 5th magnitude star 28 Sagittarii. Pluto occulted stars in 1988, 2002, 2006, allowing its tenuous atmosphere to be studied via atmospheric limb sounding. In rare cases, one planet can pass in front of another.

If the nearer planet appears larger than the more distant one, the event is called a mutual planetary occultation. Jupiter occults Saturn; the next such occultation is in the year 7541. This is one of the rarest events known because the last such occultation was in the age of dinosaurs. A further set of occultations are those when a minor planet passes in front of a star, temporarily blocking its light; these occultations are useful for measuring the size and position of minor planets much more than can be done by any other means. A cross-sectional profile of the shape of an asteroid can be determined if a number of observers at different, locations observe the occultation. Occultations have been used to estimate the diameter of trans-Neptunian objects such as 2002 TX300, Varuna. In addition, mutual occultation and eclipsing events can occur between a minor planet and its satellite. A large number of these minor-planet moons have been discovered analyzing the photometric light curves of rotating minor planets and detecting a second, superimposed brightness variation, from which an orbital period for the satellite, a secondary-to-primary diameter-ratio (for the binary syst

Thomas Spencer Crago was a Republican member of the U. S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Thomas S. Crago was born in Pennsylvania, he attended Waynesburg College. He graduated from Princeton College in 1893, he studied law, was admitted to the bar of Greene County, Pennsylvania in 1894 and commenced practice in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. He served as captain of Company K in the Tenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish–American War and the Philippine–American War. After the war helped to reorganize the Pennsylvania National Guard and was elected major and lieutenant colonel of the Tenth Infantry, he resigned his commission while in Congress but was retired with the rank of colonel. He was a delegate to the 1904 Republican National Convention. Crago was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-second Congress, he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1912. He served as commander in chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1914 and 1915, he was again elected to the Sixty-fourth, Sixty-fifth, Sixty-sixth Congresses.

He was not a candidate for renomination in 1920, but was subsequently elected to the Sixty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mahlon M. Garland, he was not a candidate for renomination in 1922. He was appointed special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States on March 7, 1923, was assigned to the War Frauds Division, he resigned August 15, 1924. He served as vice president of the Union Trust Co. of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. He died in Waynesburg, aged 59, interred in Green Mount Cemetery. United States Congress. "Thomas S. Crago". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-02-11 The Political Graveyard

Anthony Hitchens is an American football linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft, he played college football at the University of Iowa. Hitchens was raised by his mother, Norma Hitchens, in Lorain, Ohio where he attended Clearview High School, he has six siblings and does not have a relationship with his father, in and out of prison. At the age of 12, Hitchens asked his mother if he could move in with his best friend, Zach Anderson, his family in Sheffield Township, his mother gave him her permission and he moved into Brad and Amy Anderson's home. Brad attended high school with Norma and Amy worked at a nonprofit organization in the community with her. Anthony played football with their oldest son Zach and would stay overnight and always eat dinner with them. Amy Anderson says there was no discussion about letting him moved in because they both cared for him. With two sons of their own and another friend, James Washington, of theirs living there, the Andersons added an additional room so the boys would no longer would have to share one room among the four of them.

In high school, Hitchens was a three-sport athlete, playing football and track. On the football field he was known for being an explosive running back, he is the school's all-time rushing leader with 3,864 yards, the single game leader with 354 yards. Hitchens was labeled a two-star recruit by Rivals.com. He had offers from Kansas University, Indiana University, University of Akron, Eastern Michigan, before deciding to continue his career at the University of Iowa. At Iowa, Hitchens was a four-year letter winner. In his first two years, he stayed on special teams, before starting at linebacker as a junior, senior. In his career at Iowa he racked up 270 total tackles, including 124 as junior which led the Big Ten Conference. Hitchens was one of 35 linebackers to perform at the NFL combine in Indianapolis. Although he performed all of the combine drills, his day was considered mediocre, he tied for 12th among his position group in the 40-yard dash, tied for ninth among linebackers in the bench press, finished 17th in the three-cone drill.

On March 24, 2014, Hitchens opted to participate at Iowa's pro day, along with C. J. Fiedorowicz, Christian Kirksey, James Morris, nine other prospects, he improved upon his 40-yard dash, 20-yard dash, ran positional drills for the scouts and team representatives from 28 NFL teams. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Hitchens was projected to be a seventh round pick or priority undrafted free agent by the majority of NFL draft experts and scouts, he was ranked the 31st best outside linebacker prospect in the draft by DraftScout.com. The Dallas Cowboys selected Hitchens in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft; the Cowboys were criticized regarding his selection, due to many evaluators projecting him to be a seventh round pick or go undrafted. Dallas Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones explained that they chose him to provide depth behind Sean Lee after experiencing the loss of Lee the year prior. Jones stated they planned on selecting Hitchens in the fourth round ahead of time and his speed and tackling ability were key factors.

On June 1, 2014, the Dallas Cowboys signed Hitchens to a four-year, $2.65 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $434,864. When Sean Lee was lost for the season during organized team activities, the team traded for Rolando McClain, it was decided to make Hitchens learn all three linebacker positions, he began organized team activities taking reps with the first team defense, but was soon moved to the backup middle linebacker after Justin Durant returned from a hamstring injury. He spent the bulk of training camp at outside linebacker, competing with Justin Durant and Kyle Wilber, before being moved back to middle linebacker; the Dallas Cowboys opted to trade for Rolando McClain and have Hitchens compete with him in training camp. Head coach Jason Garrett named Hitchens the back up middle linebacker to McClain to begin the 2014 Season, he made his professional regular season debut in the Dallas Cowboys' season-opener against the San Francisco 49ers and assisted on one tackle in the 28-17 loss.

He made his first career tackle in the closing seconds of the game, helping safety Barry Church tackle 49ers' running back Frank Gore who gained five-yards on a short run to seal the win for the 49ers. The following week, Hitchens earned his first career start at weakside linebacker and recorded two combined tackles during a 26-10 victory at the Tennessee Titans, he started in place of Justin Durant, who suffered a groin injury in the season-opener against the San Francisco 49ers. During a Week 3 matchup at the St. Louis Rams, Hitchens collected a season-high 13 combined tackles and deflected a pass in Dallas' 34-31 victory, he recorded five combined tackles on special teams. Head coach Jason Garrett named Hitchens the weakside linebacker for the remainder of the season after Justin Durant was placed on injured/reserve after tearing his biceps in the Cowboys' 20-17 overtime loss to the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football. On December 21, 2014, Hitchens made eight solo tackles, defended two passes, has his first career interception after picking off a pass attempt by Indianapolis Colts' quarterback Matt Hasselbeck during the Cowboys' 42-7 victory.

He was nominated for the Pepsi Rookie of the Week award after his week 16 performance against the Indianapolis Colts. He finished the regular season with 75 combined tackles, four pass deflections, one interception in 16 games and nine starts; the Dallas Cowboys finished atop the NFC East with a 12-4 record. On January 4, 2015, Hitchen