Every once in a while, something will appear in the sky that will catch the attention of even those who normally don’t bother to look up.
This will likely be so on the evening of Wednesday, December 7, when the full moon appears in close proximity to the now bright planet Mars. In fact, the moon will become full at 11:08 p.m. EST (04:08 GMT on December 8), followed by Mars arriving at the sun’s opposition just 87 minutes later. This will result in near perfect alignment in space of the sun, earth, moon, and mars.
People, who are unaware or have not been warned in advance, will almost certainly wonder, as they glance casually at our nearest neighbor in space on this first Wednesday in December, what is exactly this “bright orange-yellow light”? Sometimes such occasions are accompanied by a sudden flurry of phone calls to radio and television stations, local planetariums, meteorological offices and police stations. Not a few of these calls are enthusiastically inquiring about the “mysterious UFO” hovering in close proximity to our natural satellite!
If you don’t live in any of the locations listed below that will give you a good chance of seeing the event in person, you’re in luck: the Virtual Telescope Project will be hosting a live broadcast from Mars to Opposition. (opens in a new tab) starting at 11:00 p.m. EST on December 7 (04:00 GMT on December 8).
Related: Full Moon December 2022: Cold Moon Overshadows Mars
Joe Rao is a seasoned meteorologist and eclipse hunter who also serves as an instructor and guest speaker at Hayden Planetarium in New York City.
Where to see the moon eclipsing Mars
As a bonus, those north and west of a line roughly from Piedras Negras, Mexico to Louisville, Kentucky to Seabrook, New Hampshire will see the occult moon Mars. Refer to the United States map. Those positioned south and east of this line, however, will see the moon completely miss the planet, barely passing just overhead (called an impulse).
But to an observer fortuitously positioned exactly on or immediately adjacent to this line – it is actually a narrow path about 21 miles (34 km) wide – the lower limb of the moon will appear to literally brush past Mars during its passage.
For those fortuitously along the northern edge of the path, the planet’s dazzling topaz disk may seem to disappear completely, then reappear intermittently in the lunar valleys. In contrast, along the southern edge of the trajectory, the northern edge of Mars will only briefly touch the limb of the moon.
Among the towns and villages along the way are Morgantown, WV; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Hudson, NY; Northampton, MA; Lowell, MA and Seabrook, NH. Refer to the Mars Cloaking Pasture Path Maps.
Unlike a star which is a point of light and which would disappear and reappear in an instant, Mars appears as a small disk in telescopes; due to its relatively large angular size (17.2 arcseconds in diameter), occultation will occur at a rather “quiet” rate. Thus, Mars disappearing behind the moon’s bright limb for most locations will take anywhere from about 40 seconds to almost a minute (or even longer when the moon’s limb approaches it at an angle).
From Austin, for example, the moon’s slow eastward drift will take more than two minutes to completely cover, and later uncover, the planet’s disk – and even longer for those to the south and closer to the northern edge. of the grazing path, where the limb of the moon will approach even more obliquely.
The reappearance of the planet will also be gradual. The actual term is called a concealment (Latin for “to hide”). We could even refer to this upcoming event as an eclipse of the planet Mars. Moving east against background stars at its own apparent diameter each hour, the moon will appear to approach Mars from the west (right) and eventually pass in front of it, then shortly thereafter, discover it and leave it behind as the moon continues to move east.
Clearly visible with just your eyes
The chance to see the moon obscuring a bright planet at night doesn’t come too often; for Mars for a specific location on Earth, this happens (on average) once every 14 years or so. So if you’re lucky enough to live in the Blackout Zone and the weather gods are cooperating, this upcoming event is definitely not to be missed.
Since Mars will be in opposition when it has its lunar rendezvous, it will shine brightly for this current appearance. Normally, even a bright star can be quite hard to see when so close to the dazzling brilliance of a full moon. Yet, since Mars is as bright as it is (magnitude -1.9; almost twice as bright as Sirius, the brightest star), this spectacular vanishing act can be observed with the naked eye or with binoculars, although the best views will certainly be offered with a telescope.
Table 1 provides specific details for 27 selected cities in the United States and Canada. For hours with an asterisk
| Table 1: Local observation circumstances of the March occultation, December 7-8, 2022 | Location | Time zone | Mars disappears |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mars reappears | juneau | ACST | 6:19 p.m. |
| 6:55 p.m. | Angels | DVT | 6:30 p.m. |
| 7:30 p.m. | San Francisco | DVT | 6:34 p.m. |
| 7:35 p.m. | Seattle | DVT | 6:51 p.m. |
| 7:50 p.m. | Vancouver | DVT | 6:55 p.m. |
| 7:52 p.m. | Tucson | STD | 7:32 p.m. |
| 8:27 p.m. | Vegas | STD | 7:34 p.m. |
| 8:35 p.m. | Salt Lake City | STD | 7:41 p.m. |
| 8:46 p.m. | denver | STD | 7:44 p.m. |
| 8:48 p.m. | Helen | STD | 7:51 p.m. |
| 8:56 p.m. | Edmonton | STD | 8:04 p.m. |
| 9:06 p.m. | Yellowknife | STD | 8:23 p.m. |
| 9:16 p.m. | White horse | STD | 8:25 p.m. |
| 8:57 p.m. | Tulsa | TSC | 8:54 p.m. |
| 9:41 p.m. | Kansas City | TSC | 8:56 p.m. |
| 9:52 p.m. | Austin | TSC | 8:57 p.m. |
| 9:12 p.m. | Saskatoon | TSC | 9:03 p.m. |
| 10:10 p.m. | Winnipeg | TSC | 9:05 p.m. |
| 10:16 p.m. | Chicago | TSC | 9:10 p.m. |
| 10:04 am | Memphis | TSC | 9:14 p.m. |
| 9:29 p.m. | Churchill | TSC | 9:22 p.m. |
| 10:31 p.m. | Louisville | IS | 10:21 p.m. |
| 10:47 p.m. | Toronto | IS | 10:29 p.m. |
| 11:17 p.m. | Montreal | IS | 10:40 p.m. |
| 11:29 p.m. | Quebec City | IS | 10:45 p.m. |
| 11:36 p.m. | Halifax | AST | 00:15* |
| 00:33* | Jars | NST | 00:47* |
1h37*
The table above gives the calendar times of disappearance and reappearance of Mars behind the moon. The disappearance and reappearance of the planet can take anywhere from 40 seconds to over two minutes, depending on whether Mars passes centrally behind the moon (and is covered for an hour or more) or near its lower slanting edge (and is covered for less than half an hour). Disappearance and reappearance times are for the center of Mars. The table has been adapted from data provided by the International Occult Synchronization Association (IOTA)(opens in a new tab)
(Image credit: Starry Night Software)
Don’t miss this near miss! For the rest of North America, it will be an extremely close approach from the moon to Mars (calledlanded
). The moon, moving around Earth eastward at roughly its own diameter every hour, will appear to slowly crawl towards and eventually pass just above the Ocher Planet. Even though the densely populated southeast and eastern United States will miss an occultation, Mars will almost command people to look at it, as it seems to be slowly sliding under the moon.
For places like Huntsville, Knoxville, Philadelphia, and New York, Mars will come within an arc minute of the moon’s limb; they will almost seem to touch each other. To the naked eye, Mars will look like an amber gem on the lower rim of the moon. From Boston, the gap between Mars and the limb of the Moon is even smaller: only 0.6 minutes of arc, roughly equal to the apparent width of two diameters of Mars!
After the closest approach, the moon will slowly move away from Mars during the rest of the nighttime hours of December 7 and 8.
| Swipe to scroll horizontally | Table 2: Local observing circumstances for Moon and Mars pulse, December 7-8, 2022 | Location | Time zone |
|---|---|---|---|
| closest approach | Separation | New Orleans | IS |
| 9:11 p.m. | 3 arcs min. | Huntsville | IS |
| 9:23 p.m. | 1 arc min. | miami | IS |
| 10:16 p.m. | 11 arc min. | Jacksonville | IS |
| 10:23 p.m. | 7 minutes of arc. | Atlanta | IS |
| 10:26 p.m. | 3 arcs min. | Colombia | IS |
| 10:31 p.m. | 4 arcs min. | Knoxville | IS |
| 10:31 p.m. | 1 arc min. | Charlotte | IS |
| 10:36 p.m. | 3 arcs min. | Norfolk | IS |
| 10:46 p.m. | 4 arcs min. | Washington | IS |
| 10:46 p.m. | 2 arcs min. | philadelphia cream | IS |
| 10:51 p.m. | 1 arc min. | New York | IS |
| 10:56 p.m. | 1 arc min. | Boston | IS |
| 11:01 p.m. | 0.6 arc min. | Saint Jean | AST |
| 11:51 p.m. | 23 minutes of arc. | hamilton | AST |
00:06*
11 arc min.
The table above gives the civil times (every morning) of Mars’ closest approach to the edge of the lower limb of the moon. The separation between Mars and the lower edge of the moon is given in terms of arcminutes (the moon’s apparent width on December 7 is 30 arcminutes).
Example: From Jacksonville, the closest approach is at 10:23 p.m. EST, the separation is listed at 7 minutes of arc or a fraction of about 1/4 of the width of the moon will separate Mars from the lower edge of the moon.
Europe too! And after 2022, your next opportunity
Europeans will also be able to participate in this occultation, although for them this event will occur before dawn on Thursday (December 8) with the moon descending the west-northwest sky. For Lisbon, Mars will disappear behind the Moon at 4:28 a.m. local time and reappear at 5:02 a.m. For Dublin it’s 4:55 and 5:56 London: 5:00 and 5:59 Berlin: 6:01 and 6:56 Paris: 6:04 and 7:02, and Madrid 6:21 and 7:07 The next favorable occultation of Mars for North America will take place on January 14, 2025. around 4 a.m. UT. The moon will be a waning gibbous about 6 hours after full. Mars comes to opposition two days later. Joe Rao is an instructor and guest speaker at New York’sHayden Planetarium (opens in a new tab) . He writes on astronomy fornatural history review (opens in a new tab) the Farmers Almanac (opens in a new tab) and other publications. Follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) and onFacebook
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