On New Years, Mars will disappear: how is this possible – The Times Hub

Covering Mars by the Moon/Astrobin

Observing celestial bodies from Earth, you can see some pretty interesting combinations. Amateur astronomers are especially fond of them because they can take great pictures.

Astrophotographers love so-called coatings. In such events, one object located closer to us covers a more distant object. So, for example, one can observe how an asteroid or satellite of some planet covers a star with its body. But the covering of planets by the Moon is much more interesting.

The covering of Mars by the Moon/Screenshots from the online planetarium Stellarium

On January 1, 2021, the Moon will cover Mars. This event does not happen too often to be ignored. Unfortunately, it will be impossible to monitor the coverage from the territory of Ukraine. Moreover, from the northern hemisphere too.

The best conditions to see the event will be in the south of Australia. Therefore, if you can visit this southern continent, do not miss it, because at about 4:03 UTC, our satellite will cover Mars with its lower side for a while. The moon will be located quite low above the horizon, so the observation will be somewhat interfered with by the illumination from the sun.

Pay attention! In the northern hemisphere it will be possible to observe a kind of parade of planets: the dwarf planet Zirer, Uranus, the asteroid Pallas, Neptune, Jupiter and Saturn will line up. Before the sun sets, Mercury and Venus can be viewed below and to the right of Saturn.

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On New Years, Mars will disappear: how is this possible - The Times Hub