GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) Early Tuesday morning, a neatastronomical event will occur. Across the United States, people will be able towatch the planet Mars disappear behind the moon.

Unfortunately, its looking cloudy in West Michigan, so we wonthave the best view here. Our neighbors across the country with clearerconditions will be able to see Mars disappear behind the lit side of the moon thenreappear on the dark side around an hour later.

In Grand Rapids, Mars will disappear behind the moon around 7:12a.m., just before sunrise. It will reappear after sunrise around 8:38 a.m. Ifskies were clear, a telescope would likely still be needed to view the phenomenondue to the lighter conditions. The western United States will have a betterchance of seeing the occultation with the naked eye.

An occultation of a planet is not rare, but you have to be on theright spot of the globe to see it happen. Almost all the United States will beable to see this occultation of Mars (weather permitting) with the onlyexceptions being Hawaii, Alaska and a small portion of the PacificNorthwest.

We have a better chance of clearer conditions early Wednesdaymorning and early Thursday morning. In the pre-dawn hours on Wednesday, look tothe southeast toward the moon. You should be able to see Jupiter to the left ofthe moon.

Both Saturn and Jupiter will be close to the moon on Thursday morning. The moon will be to the lower right of Saturn and Jupiter will be to the upper right of the moon. Again, youll want to look toward the southeast at dawn.

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Look up: Astronomical event on the way - WOODTV.com