Comments on: Mars and the Moon

By: m.t.p

m.t.p — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 02:37:31 +0000

I saw this happen tonight Monday 2-18,2008 the moon crossed over mars. I was trilled. I went on linet to look it up happened at a little
before 9.00. lakeland florida

By: Nigel Depledge

Nigel Depledge — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:46:48 +0000

I too got a nice pic of the Moon and Mars in close proximity, but I used a long exposure so the Moon is overexposed but the background stars are visible (and slightly streaked). I got some quite attractive lens flare off the Moon (or is it those alien spaceships?).

I even created a flickr account so I could share it with the BA Blogees:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22177653@N03/2137686999/

By: darius

darius — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 19:09:02 +0000

I was driving from Whittier, CA (just east of Los Angeles) to Las Vegas, NV (where I live) on Sunday night. We started out just as it started to get dark, about 4:40 PM or so. A few minutes later, I noticed there was a small dot only slightly separated from the moon (at about the 5:00 position), and figured it was Mars due to the earlier post here about Mars being relatively close to us right now.

I pointed it out to my wife (it took her a couple of minutes to find it), and I kept looking at it for the entire drive. Beautiful! I hadn’t brought my camera equipment (just my wife’s, which doesn’t allow enough of an exposure time or ISO adjustment to get really good pictures at night), so unfortunately no pictures. As MJKelleher pointed out above, it still makes for a lovely memory.

By the time we got home (about 9PM), the moon and Mars were separated by 2 to 3 apparent moon diameters.

By: A.J. (the bad biologist)

A.J. (the bad biologist) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 11:54:14 +0000

I’m in Vail CO and i got a fantastic view. just when I read the post and went out to check it out the sky cleared perfectly and I was able to see them both.
wonderful

By: Daniel Fischer

Daniel Fischer — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 07:25:18 +0000

A collection of links to particularly good images of the Moon actually occulting Mars or at least making a very close appulse can be found in the Cosmic Mirror at http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~dfischer/mirror/308.html (in the header).

Happy Newton Day to all!

By: Edward C

Edward C — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 05:21:21 +0000

I would like to see a neat astronomical event. Maybe the clouds will
part for Christmas.

Does this situation occur every two years or so?

By: Kelson

Kelson — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 03:36:12 +0000

I’d gotten my wires crossed and thought somehow that it was Saturday night, and I’d missed it. So I was pleasantly surprised when, as my wife and I went to meet some friends for dinner, we turned onto the target street and right in front of us was the moon, with a tiny dot just off its lower right.

We could actually see it from our table in the restaurant, and I pointed it out to our friends, one of whom immediately sent his wife a text message (they were visiting from out of town and had accidentally committed to two different gatherings at the same time) so she’d know to look out the window.

Every few minutes, I’d look back at it, and watched as Mars shifted upwards past the moon. (Well, technically the other way around of course, but as far as perception goes, the moon’s a bigger reference point.)

By: MJKelleher

MJKelleher — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 03:16:07 +0000

After a day of clouds, rain and wind, I got home last night about 9:30pm EST. The wind had blown most of the clouds away, and I had a spectacular view of Mars next to the moon, just to the right. Alas, no photo, but a lovely memory. Looked out again about 3:30 am to see they had separated about one lunar diameter with Mars below the moon. Again, a glorious view.

As I’m writing this, the other side of my brain is wondering. We capitalize the name of the planets (Mars), but not the M/moon? It doesn’t seem right, somehow.

By: Curtis P

Curtis P — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 01:16:36 +0000

It was cloudy here in Northeast Ohio, but in stripes. And framed betweem two of the stripes was the moon and Mars. At the time I wished I had the equipment necessary to photograph it, but it was still beautiful to behold.

By: BigBadSis

BigBadSis — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 00:35:50 +0000

We saw it too in B-More and got a picture, a crummy digital camera shot, but cool! There is a wide glow around the moon with Mars barely outside it. I’ve got the picture up on Flikr but can’t figure out how to post it here. How do you guys do that??

By: Dori

Dori — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 00:05:21 +0000

I was outside briefly for a few minutes last night about 11:30 (I’m just north of Baltimore). There was a fantastic break in the clouds and Mars was just to the southeast of the moon, far closer than James’ photo showed. Impressive sight– I stopped dead in my tracks and just watched for a few minutes.

By: OneHotJupiter

OneHotJupiter — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 23:56:10 +0000

I saw it , Gorgeous indeed!

By: DrFlimmer

DrFlimmer — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 23:24:23 +0000

Here it was just too early. I saw the moon and Mars closed to each other and thought that the moon will go over mars…. but it was far after midnight here in Germany, so I went to bed. Damn!

By: Grand Lunar

Grand Lunar — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 21:16:52 +0000

I saw the two last night, not long after moonrise, with Mars just below the moon.
Then, when both were near the zenith, I saw the two side by side. That came as a surprise to me, until I realized the reason for it (but didn’t do calculations like Bad Jim did).

Ah, the wonders of astronomy!

By: bad Jim

bad Jim — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 19:08:52 +0000

I’m in Orange County, too, but I’ve been watching Mars for weeks now. I don’t think there’s anything more glorious in the Northern Hemisphere than the early winter sky, and here it is decorated with a bright red Mars.

When I first saw it, early this evening, Mars and the Moon were side by side. A few hours later they were askew, well separated, and I was a littled surprised, but a brief calculation shows that the moon moves about 1/2 degree per hour across the stellar background.

By: James

James — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 18:39:28 +0000

I've posted a better-processed version of the Moon/Mars shot I mentioned above, if anyone's curious. Also, Mars itself, as taken with a 400mm lens. Not much to look at, but it is a distinct reddish disc!

By: Frogmarch

Frogmarch — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 17:53:13 +0000

Saw it last night.
Didn’t know what it was, but thought it must be a planet.
I think that it was a little pink, looking back.

By: aiden

aiden — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 17:24:05 +0000

the night sky is gorgeous tonight in w kentucky

By: Solomon

Solomon — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 15:58:09 +0000

I was in the car with family, just outside Philly, when I noticed a rather impressive break in the clouds (which had been dumping rain on us all day) that allowed a pretty impressive view of this. I actually hadn’t seen this post before that; but, I remembered an earlier post pointing out that Mars is pretty much at opposition, so I intuited that it must be Mars I was seeing from that.

By: Bill Nettles

Bill Nettles — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 05:08:03 +0000

First clear skies in over a week here in TN (missed both the Geminids and the Ursids) but what a sight!! No occultation, but you had to concentrate to see Mars when they were side by side.

It’s really neat, too, to watch the moon fall behind other objects in the sky as the night progresses.

BTW, I noticed that Altair was still up when Orion was rising ( from your earlier post).

By: Miss Cellania

Miss Cellania — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 03:36:00 +0000

I’m glad I caught your post in time. I saw it! And took the kids out to look, too. It was a real kick for all of us! Thanks.

By: Will

Will — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 03:25:11 +0000

In Orange County, CA it’s quite clear with the exception of some high, thin clouds. It makes for some pretty impressive views.

I saw the moon and Mars together, but I didn’t know it was Mars at the time. I contacted a friend, and he directed me here. Good stuff.

I better go outside and have another look before it gets too late.

By: Meskine

Meskine — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 02:58:45 +0000

I just logged on to ask what now seems to be a dumb question. I was on my patio in NE Texas enjoying a cigarette and a beautiful, crisp, clear winter sky when I saw a bright dot next to the nearly full moon. I figured it couldn’t be a star since I could barely make out Orion, so I assumed it had to be a planet. Just wanted to know which one it might be. Ya’ll can color me stupid, but I’m just regular people who likes watch the night sky while the dog (and I) pee in the backyard.

By: Michael Lonergan

Michael Lonergan — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 02:43:05 +0000

Just as well that we’re socked in. I’m not into the occult anyway.

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 02:35:22 +0000

I was just outside playing frisbee and saw this and decided to check it out (I thought it was just a bright star). Went inside and found out it was mars… wish I had a better telescope!