Friday night is date night for two bright celestial meetups that will light up the sky tonight (Oct. 2 - Oct. 3).
If skies are clear in your area during the overnight hours, you'll have an opportunity to see the nearly-full moon snuggling up with a shining Mars, followed some hours later by an even more brilliant Venus pairing off with one of the brightest stars in the sky.
On Friday night, Oct. 2, the moon, just one day past its "Harvest Full Moon" phase, will appear to glide closely above the planet Mars.
This dance will be a near facsimile of another close moon-Mars approach which took place less than a month ago on Sept. 5. That time, Mars and the moon approached each other a bit more closely than the upcoming rendezvous. But as if to compensate, this time Mars will appear twice as bright.
That's because Mars is only days away from making its closest approach to Earth on Oct. 6, while arriving at its best opposition until 2035 on Oct. 13. Both conditions mean the planet is now shining prominently with a dazzling yellow-orange glow.
Skywatchers located in Patagonia, the sparsely populated region at the southern end of South America, will actually see the moon hide Mars for a short time. (The International Occultation Times Association offers a map of visibility and more details about this "Mars eclipse." The same region will catch a total eclipse of the sun on Dec. 14.)
But if you aren't located in Patagonia, there's still plenty to see tonight. The close approach of Mars to the moon will be visible across the contiguous United States and southern Canada. The time of closest approach will come later in the evening as you head east.
Depending on where you're located, moon and planet will be separated by 1.25 degrees to 1.5 degrees. Since the moon measures 0.5 degrees in width, you might assume that the gap between it and Mars will appear to be equal to three full moon widths. However, thanks to an optical illusion, the moon actually appears twice as large, making the gap seem much smaller.
If you live in the Pacific Time Zone, Mars and the moon will appear closest at around 8:20 p.m. For the Mountain Time Zone, the closest approach will come at about 9:35 p.m. Across the Central Time Zone, it's 11 p.m., while in the Eastern Time Zone the closest approach comes in the early hours of Saturday morning, at roughly 12:25 a.m.
The moon appears to move east in its orbit around the Earth at the rate of its own diameter each hour. This movement will be readily evident using Mars as a benchmark. From New York City, for example, when the moon and Mars appear very low over the eastern horizon at around 8 p.m., Mars will appear to the moon's upper left. But after midnight, Mars will appear to be hovering directly above the moon and by 6 a.m. on Saturday, Mars will appear to the moon's lower right as they descend across the west-southwest sky.
Although Mars and the nearly full moon will appear side by side, don't fall for the ubiquitous internet hoax implying that Mars can seem to loom as large as the moon.
In tonight's tableau, Mars will be only 1.27% as large as the disk of the moon. So, to the naked eye it will appear not as a disk, but as a non-twinkling, albeit brilliant, "star."
No doubt many people who are out on the first Friday evening of October might do a double-take should they cast their gaze up toward the moon and wonder, "What is that fiery star that happens to be hovering above it?" But unless they're looking through the eyepiece of a telescope, nobody should expect to see Mars even remotely resembling a moon-size object.
Early on Saturday morning we will be treated to another unusual sight, when Venus, the most brilliant planet, passes exceptionally close to Regulus, one of the brightest stars in the sky, located in the zodiacal constellation of Leo the Lion.
Regulus is the 21st brightest star in the sky and marks the heart of the Lion; the star's name is Latin for "Little King." Regulus is 79 light-years away and is actually not a single star, but a quadruple star system composed of two pairs of stars.
Venus is by far and away the brightest morning "star" and will remain the focal point of the eastern dawn sky through the autumn.Venus rises a bit more than three hours before sunrise, before even the first light of dawn.
In the days and weeks to come, early risers will take note of the fact that the sparkling planet will slowly move lower in the sky and fade slightly. But it is still positioned almost as well as it can be for any predawn apparition.
And on Saturday morning, Venus willbe positioned just over half a degree to the south of Regulus. In the mornings that follow, the dazzling planet will move noticeably east of the star.
But spotting Regulus close to Venus on Saturday morning might initially be a bit of a challenge because of Venus's overpowering brilliance. Binoculars will bea great assistance, as Venusis now shining at magnitude -4.1 compared tobluish Regulus at magnitude+1.3.Convertingthis 5.4-magnitude difference into a ratio, we find thatRegulus one of the 21 brightest stars in the sky shines only 0.6% as bright as Venus.
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York'sHayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy forNatural History magazine, theFarmers' Almanacand other publications. Follow uson Twitter@Spacedotcomand onFacebook.
Excerpt from:
Don't miss Mars and the nearly full moon huddling together in tonight's sky - Space.com
- NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Reached the South Side of Pinnacle Ridge What's Next? - SciTechDaily - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- One Horse Spun and Three Withdrawals at MARS Badminton Final Horse Inspection - Eventing Nation - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Get ready for the Jupiter and Mars conjunction before dawn - EarthSky - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- "Mars One Thousand One" at the City of Science of Tunis - US Embassy in Tunisia - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- The 2024 Humans to Mars Summit is happening now. Here's how to watch live. - Space.com - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- These Rocks Formed in an Ancient Lake on Mars - Universe Today - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- NASA's Plans for Next-Generation Mars Helicopters Are Up in the Air - Scientific American - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Venus looked a lot like Earth when they first formed - NPR - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- A journey to Mars in just two months: a revolutionary rocket engine is invented - The Universe. Space. Tech - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- New Thomas Mars Chess Bot On Chess.com - Chess.com - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- We Need to Consider Conservation Efforts on Mars - Universe Today - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- How fungi and bacteria could help build habitats on Mars - Modern Ghana - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- A Laser Zapped the Rocks on Mars and Revealed a Long-Lost Water World - Popular Mechanics - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Mayan Intercropping Could Be Key to Food on Mars - Newser - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Jared Leto on 'emotional time travel' of singing Thirty Seconds to Mars hits on new tour - ABC News - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Mars Hill seeks input from residents on new bike and pedestrian path - Citizen Times - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- T-Minus: New SpaceX fashion, a Mars mystery, and more - Freethink - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Nasa reveals rocket that can travel to Mars in 2 months - The News International - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- NASA wants to build a new rocket that could get to Mars in just 2 months - Quartz - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- This is how NASA is preparing to protect its astronauts on Mars from solar flares - Deseret News - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- MICK MARS Wanted To Do Something 'Different' With His Debut Solo Album: I Didn't Want It To Sound Like '1980s Music' - BLABBERMOUTH.NET - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Mars invests $47 million in sustainable dairy initiative - Food Business News - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Will SpaceX's Innovation Save NASA's Mars Mission? - SciTechDaily - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- The 2024 MARS Badminton Field: At A Glance - Eventing Nation - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Mars may have been more Earth-like than we thought, discovery of oxygen-rich rocks reveals - Livescience.com - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- ENs Ultimate Guide to the 2024 MARS Badminton Horse Trials - Eventing Nation - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Abigail Allwood Doing Mars Rover Astrobiology Fieldwork in Greenland - Astrobiology - Astrobiology News - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- See Ingenuitys Flight Map: 72 Helicopter Flights on Mars - Science@NASA - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Bob Jones, Hartselle and Mars Hill baseball advance to state championship series - WHNT News 19 - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- EXOs D.O. Turns Up the Passion on Mars: Song Review - Rolling Stone India - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Scientist explains the weird stuff that would happen to the first humans who live on Mars - UNILAD - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Heating Mars On The Cheap - Hackaday - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Elon Musk just gave another Mars speechthis time the vision seems tangible - Ars Technica - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Thousands of strange white rocks found on Mars. Will they ever be brought to Earth? - Space.com - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Could microbes feed astronauts on Mars? - Sciworthy - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Elon Musk to send a million people to Mars - AzerNews.Az - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Bruno Mars Announced as L.A.s Intuit Dome Grand Opening Performer - Hollywood Reporter - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- L.A. Clippers New Intuit Dome Will See Bruno Mars As Its Opening Act - Deadline - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- NASA's Curiosity Mars rover begins exploring possible dried-up Red Planet river - Space.com - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- NASA`s Perseverance rover spots thousands of `unusual` white rocks on Mars - WION - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- For Elon Musk and His Disciples, Mars Is Heaven - The Catholic Thing - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Mission to Mars? Vertical Future to develop prototype for growing crops in space - BusinessGreen - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- SpaceX plans to leave the first humans on Mars stranded with no way home - TweakTown - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Astrophysicist called the colonization of Mars a dangerous illusion - The Universe. Space. Tech - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Bruno Mars Announced as Intuit Dome's Grand Opening Performer With Two Shows in Los Angeles on August 15 and 16 - Business Wire - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Mars may not have had liquid water long enough for life to form - Ars Technica - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- NASA Crashed a Spacecraft Into an Asteroid and There Could Be Some Consequences - Popular Mechanics - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Madison board to vote on Mars Hill wedding venue, 1st since event venue moratorium - Citizen Times - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Want to Start a Farm on Mars? This Rover Will Find Out if it's Possible - Universe Today - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Bruno Mars will open the new Intuit Dome in Inglewood with 2 shows in August - Daily Breeze - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- The Vanguard of the Red Planet: Understanding the Drive Behind Mars Colonization - yTech - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- New insights into Mars' vanishing water mystery from Curiosity rover - Earth.com - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Bruno Mars announced as grand opening act of Inglewood's new Intuit Dome - FOX 11 Los Angeles - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Mars and FAO Food Safety Partnership Targets Mycotoxins - Food Digital - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Preparing for the Psychological Journey to Mars: Innovative Research on Astronaut Well-being - yTech - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- NASA May Have Inadvertently Redirected An Asteroid At Mars - IFLScience - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- NASA mission sparks 'space billiards' as boulders head toward Mars - Gwinnettdailypost.com - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Giant Mars asteroid impact creates vast field of destruction with 2 billion craters - Space.com - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- NASA's attempt to bring home part of Mars is unprecedented: The mission's problems are not - Phys.org - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Mars Spacecraft Marks 25,000 Orbits With Volcanoes, Clouds And A Moon - Forbes - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- NASA smashed an asteroid with a rocket. The debris could hit Mars. - National Geographic - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Elon Musk Says 'Almost Anyone' Can Afford A $100,000 Ticket To Mars By Working And Saving But 57% Of People ... - Yahoo Finance - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Mars Mysteries: Unveiling the Icy Craters - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Future Mars plane could help solve Red Planet methane mystery (exclusive) - Space.com - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Sols 4137-4138: Fascinated by Fascination Turret! NASA Mars Exploration - NASA Mars Exploration - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Drilling for water ice on Mars: How close are we to making it happen? - Space.com - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- This Summer, Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Grateful Deads From the Mars Hotel - Rolling Stone - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Bruno Mars and Las Vegas from those MGM debt rumours to his new bar - Style - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Mars using Ansys software to transform packaging development - Recycling Today - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Mars as a Driver of Deep-Sea Erosion - Eos - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- A Song of Ice and Tectonics - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Mars Hill students, faculty join residents to mourn 10 campus trees ahead of removal - Citizen Times - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Grateful Dead From The Mars Hotel (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) - Shore Fire Media - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Texas will be the launchpad for Mars: Governor announces board of directors for Texas Space Commission - KWTX - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- M&Ms and Snickers parent company Mars spending $70M to open an 'innovation lab' in NJ - NorthJersey.com - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Historic water bomber, Hawaii Martin Mars, to be displayed in BC museum - The Nelson Daily - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC) - NASA - NASA Mars Exploration - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- This little rover will ride shotgun on Japan's ambitious Mars moon sample-return mission - Space.com - March 6th, 2024 [March 6th, 2024]
- Lawmakers announce caucus focused on space and planetary science - NBC News - March 6th, 2024 [March 6th, 2024]
- The science value of Mars Sample Return - The Planetary Society - March 6th, 2024 [March 6th, 2024]