On Monday night January 13 Mars ducked behind the Moon for a short time and then reappeared on the other side. Well, technically, the Moon moved in front of Mars. We call this an occultation when the Full Moon occults (or passed in front) of Mars. A few other things are going on as well. As noted, the Moon was a Full Moon. And Mars was almost at opposition when it is opposite the Sun when viewed from the Earth.
A few FAS members attempted to take images and videos of this event.
Bruce Gavett took a few using his Seestar. Yes, you have to look very closely to see Mars below the Moon.
Sean Wood has a couple images and a nice video (which is on the FAS Facebook page and on his Facebook page).
The best just might be this one below by Paul Jones and the video he posted on YouTube.
For more information about this event, see the references below.
- Cristina Ortiz. “Lunar occultation of Mars on January 13, 2025. Images here!” EarthSky. January 14, 2025.
- Michael E. Bakich. “Watch the Full Moon cover Mars on Monday.” Astronomy Magazine. January 11, 2025.
- Bob King. “Mars Extravaganza — Occultation And Opposition Rolled Into One!” Sky & Telescope. January 8, 2025.
- “If you can see only one celestial event this January, see this one.” Astronomical League.
- Dominic Ford. “Lunar occultation of Mars.” In-The-Sky.org.
- David Dickenson. “The Moon Occults Mars for North America Monday Night, Just Before Opposition 2025.” Universe Today. January 9, 2025.
- Gretchen Rundorff. “How to watch the full Wolf Moon ‘swallow’ Mars in the sky tonight — no telescope required.” Live Science. January 13, 2025.
- “Planetary Opposition and Conjunction.” FAS Astronomers Blog. October 2022.
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