Hidden behind the moon

  

We were driving home from work tonight (13 January 2025) during the occultation of Mars by the Moon, but here's a quick shot after Mars had emerged and was visible just above the Moon.  (Yes, that tiny speck is Mars!)  My camera didn't really do this pairing justice — it was quite striking to the visible eye.

M & M

  

Looking up at the full moon tonight at ~ 6 p.m., it was easy to see Mars very close by.  Although much smaller and not as bright, can you see Mars in the lower left corner?

As we drove home, Mars moved closer and closer to the Moon (visually), and eventually disappeared behind it.  (I've since learned this is called a lunar occultation — the Moon eclipses Mars.)

I wondered how long it would take for Mars to reappear on the other side of the Moon.  Here it is, now in the upper right corner, at a little after 8 p.m.:

 

 

So how big is Mars relative to the Moon and to the Earth?  And how much farther away is Mars?

Diameters:

Mars = ~4,212 miles

Moon = ~2,159 miles

Earth = ~7,918 miles

Distances:

Earth to the Moon = ~238,855 miles (on average)

Earth to Mars = ~38 million miles tonight (the distance varies, but Mars is very close to Earth at this time)

 

With many thanks to the Cold Moon for an astronomy lesson tonight!

 

M & M

Did you look up at the sky tonight (19 September 2019)?  It was amazing to see Mars so bright just below the Moon!  In the photo below, look for Mars at the bottom of the image (almost directly below the Moon.)

 

Here's a close-up of Mars — a bit fuzzy, but you can see that intriguing reddish color:

 

And one of the Moon:

 

 A beautiful night sky!

"Planetary dance"

A couple of days ago, Skip commented that Mars was probably in the picture I posted of Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon.  He was right, so I thought I'd try again — and this time, to take a picture highlighting Mars.

Here's the first attempt (taken on 14 October 2015). Venus is at the top (the brightest), Jupiter is at the bottom (second brightest), and Mars is just above Jupiter.  It's small and reddish in color, so harder to see.  Can you find it?

 

Here's the same picture with an arrow pointing to Mars:

 

And so you can see it better (and find it yourself in the morning sky), here's a close-up of Jupiter (bottom) and Mars (top).  [Mars is very easy to see with binoculars and is distinctly red.]

 

Skip also mentioned two special celestial events coming up soon:

- Jupiter and Mars will be in conjunction (at the same latitude when viewed from Earth) on October 17th — the closest they'll be to each other until January 2018.  

- And then Jupiter will continue moving towards Venus, and will be in conjunction with Venus on October 26th.  

Watch for this "planetary dance" in the eastern sky just before sunrise.