تصویر نجومی روز
Image Credit &
Copyright:
David Bowman
Explanation:
On January 13
a Full Moon and a Full Mars were close,
both bright and opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky.
In fact
Mars was occulted, passing behind the Moon, when
viewed from some locations in North America and northwest Africa.
As seen from Richmond, Virginia, USA, this composite
image sequence follows the evening
lunar occultation before, during, and after the much anticipated
celestial spectacle.
The telescopic time series is constructed from an exposure made every two
minutes while tracking the Moon over the hours encompassing the event.
As a result, the Red Planet's trajectory seems to follow
a gently curved path due to the
Moon's slightly different rate of apparent motion.
The next lunar occultation of bright planet Mars will be
on February 9 when the moon is in a waxing gibbous phase.
Lunar occultations are only ever visible from a fraction of the
Earth's surface, though.
The
February 9 occultation of Mars will be seen from parts of
Russia, China, eastern Canada, Greenland and other
(mostly northern) locations,
but a close conjunction of a bright Moon with Mars will be more
widely visible from planet Earth.