What star was occulted by the Moon on February 2, 2026, visible from parts of North America and Africa?

On February 2, 2026, skywatchers in specific regions of North America and Africa were treated to a captivating celestial event: a lunar occultation of Regulus. An occultation occurs when one celestial body passes directly in front of another, obscuring it from view. In this instance, our Moon moved across the sky, temporarily hiding Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo, from observers on Earth.

Regulus, also known as Alpha Leonis, holds a special place in the night sky. It's the 21st brightest star visible and is famously known as the "little king" or "prince" in Latin. This brilliant blue-white star is actually a multiple star system, though it appears as a single point of light to the naked eye. Its proximity to the ecliptic, the apparent path the Sun, Moon, and planets follow across our sky, makes it one of the few bright stars regularly subject to lunar occultations.

The visibility of such an event is highly dependent on an observer's location due to the Moon's relative closeness to Earth. Because the Moon is so near, its position in the sky can vary by as much as two degrees when viewed from different parts of the world. This explains why the February 2, 2026, occultation of Regulus was specifically visible from areas like eastern North America and northwest Africa, while other regions might have only witnessed a close conjunction where the Moon passed near, but not directly in front of, the star. This particular occultation was part of a series of such events involving Regulus, which occur in cycles roughly every 18 months.