Occultation

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. The hiding of a heavenly body from sight by the intervention of some other of the heavenly bodies; -- applied especially to eclipses of stars and planets by the moon, and to the eclipses of satellites of planets by their primaries.

2. Fig.: The state of being occult. The reappearance of such an author after those long periods of occultation. Jeffrey. Circle of perpetual occultation. See under Circle.