STAR GAZING

I woke up at 3:45 this morning to watch the Moon occult (pass in front of) Mars. Very cool. Mars is quite bright right now...but only half as bright (and big) as it will appear in about a month, when it makes its closest pass to Earth in 60,000 years.

The occultation was only visible in the US from South Florida (just my luck). In other parts of the country, Mars appeared to slide very closely by the Moon. Since the moon is most of the way towards full (and, therefore, very bright), you probably would have needed at least binoculars to see Mars graze by. Anyway, Mars disappeared behind the bright side of the Moon (at about the 12:00 position) at about 4:15 am, and emerged from behind the dark limb (that is, east side of Moon, about 2:30 or 3:00 position) at about 4:40....I got lucky because just after Mars emerged, a huge dark cloud passed over, blocking out the Moon completely. From the time Mars "touched" the surface of the Moon on the way in, it took about a minute and a half or two minutes to disappear completely; once it appeared on the side, it slid completely into view in less than a minute. (I know, a more scientifically inclined astronomer would be timing these things precisely, but I'd rather just enjoy the view.)

Particularly cool observation: as Mars slid behind the Moon, I couldn't see the silhouette of any lunar features against the orb of Mars. However, when Mars re-emerged from the dark limb (that is, it looked like Mars was rising out of black space, not from over the surface of the Moon), the trailing edge of Mars (the side closest to the Moon) had a zig zag, rather than straight, edge....the outline of a lunar mountain against Mars!

For those of you getting this who have telescopes: Mars is now big enough to be interesting to look at. It rises at about 11 or 1130 pm and is high up in the south by 3:30 and well above the horizon before dawn (for you early risers). Don't worry, by next month it will be up so you can look at it after dinner.

At about 100x, you'll see a small disc (maybe 1/2 or 1/3 the size of Jupiter at the same magnification), tan or maybe slightly terra cotta in color (since the moon will be bright as it approaches and then waxes from fullness, the color will be more washed out....what I saw this morning was essentially tan). I saw some dark areas on the surface (don't know if they were clouds or surface features....again, it's tough when the Moon is so bright and close by), and the ice cap of the South Pole is pointed towards Earth and is very large and noticeable....a big white patch of ice....just what you expect the South Pole to look like...it's now Spring on Mars, so the ice cap should shrink noticeably over the next couple of months...

You'll also see that Mars is not yet completely round....because of it's position vis a vis the Sun, it looks like an almost, but not quite, full moon. If you push the magnification, you'll see the surface and cloud features more clearly, but Earth's atmospheric disturbances will also be greater...so keep looking for moments of stillness...a red or orange filter may help bring out some features.....