| 2025 Jan 13: Occultation of Mars (2024-12-14) ⬅︎ |
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On January 13th, Mars will be hidden behind the Moon in the Starry Hill region. It’ll start at 6:23 PM and end at 6:39 PM, lasting just 16 minutes. This is super rare because Mars and the Moon will be in the same direction from us. But Mars is way farther away, so it’ll get covered, not the Moon.
Mars will look tiny compared to the Moon because it’s so far away. Even when Mars is closest to opposition on January 15th, it’ll still be small. How small? Well, the Moon is about 30 arcminutes or 1800 arcseconds in size, and Mars is about 14 arcseconds. So, Mars will be over 100 times smaller!
Now, here’s a fun question: is the Moon moving past Mars or is Mars moving past the Moon? It’s the Moon that’s mostly moving. In fact, the Moon is the fastest natural object in our sky, moving at about 30 arcminutes per hour.
Watch a simulation of it here:
If you have a telescope or binocular, this would be a great time to watch this amazing event. But the Moon will be close to full, so you’ll need a Moon filter for your telescope.
This event will only be visible from certain parts of Earth, like Starry Hill. That’s because the Moon is so close to Earth and can vary by as much as 2 degrees in our sky depending on where you are. And, of course, only places that are dark at the time of the occultation will be able to see it.
Fingers crossed for clear skies for this rare and not-to-be-missed event! |
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