The 2022 Lunar Occultation of Mars

Occultation is where one astronomical object, such as a planet or moon, passes front of another one, obscuring it from being seen.  In this case, the Moon was due to pass in front of Mars in the early hours of 8 December 2022.  In addition, Mars also happened to be in opposition, meaning that the Earth was directly in line between Mars and the Sun. Opposition is when a planet appears at its brightest in the night sky.

I had so looked forward to this rare astronomical event and planned for it quite throughly, but in the end I was frustrated and foiled by the cloudy weather. I set up early in the afternoon and had quite a few practice shots during the early evening when the skies here were crystal clear.  

At first I thought I'd stay up all night waiting for the main event when Mars was occulted by the full 'Cold' Moon at around 4:45am, but in the end I decided to get a few hours sleep starting around11:45pm. When I got up at 3:14am, the skies were still clear and Mars was a lot nearer to the moon than when I had gone to bed.  However, when I returned from making a quick cup of tea, everything had changed!

The clouds had rolled in totally obscuring Mars and the Moon at times and time was running out.  I'd focused everything previously, so I wasn't concerned about that, but the exposure time was giving me real problems and I had to keep adjusting it manually with every passing cloud.  This really wasn't easy and was certainly very frustrating.

Consequently, I couldn't see Mars at the all important moment of occultation, so I just left the camera video running whilst I hoped for the best.  I was also trying to take some manual single shots with my DSLR and big lens in a sort of belt and braces approach.  In hindsight this wasn't such a good idea as my attention was constantly switching between the two systems.

At first I thought I'd totally fluffed it, but with a considerable amount of processing I managed to resurrect these two shots from the stacked video.  They're quite disappointing really but they are all I've got and at least I witness the event.  

My best shot probably came after the occultation had finished and Mars was on its way to set in the western sky. You can see how cloudy it was from the colours in the sky and the lack of clarity in the Cold Moon's surface features.

A Second Try at the Moon and Mars

A day later I thought I'd have another go at the (almost full) Moon and Mars conjunction, particularly as they were closer together.  There was still a fair amount of cloud about, but this gave some of my shots a bit of atmosphere.   Mars is that tiny orange dot you can see in the top left corner of each shot!

And finally, here's a bit of video of the same scene.  Watch as Mars and the Moon drift eerily from east to west across the cloudy sky.

The Moon and Mars in Conjunction - October 2020

October 2020 will have two full moons this year, the first being the Harvest Moon at the start of the month on 1 October and the second on Halloween, 31 October.  When this occurs, the second full moon is known as a  'Blue Moon' (nothing to do with its colour) and also 'Blood Mood', 'Sanguine Moon' or a 'Hunters Moon' - but more on than later, when it actually occurs.  For now, these names are all down to local folklore from various countries.

Along with the first Full Moon, Mars will be close to it as it gradually reaches opposition and so the aim here was to try and get the conjunction of Mars and the Moon in a single shot.  The weather was generally poor with a lot of cloud, but this actually helped in achieving an exposure which balanced out the Moon's brightness with Mars in the same frame.

I also tried a few shots of just the moon, but the cloud cover really didn't help the detail here.

I tried processing my shots in various ways, but none of them are really that successful.

My Third All-Nighter

Here are some shots from my third All-Nighter this month where I stay up until the wonderful Dawn Chorus of birds start singing in order to view Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and the Moon rising in the south east.  But before that happens I spent the night taking shots of Deep Sky Objects.

M81 and M82 - Bodes Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy

M27 - The Dumbbell Nebula

Can you see anything?

Right to Left - Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and the Moon does below.

Jupiter showing some very faint cloud bands

Saturn - nice to see the separation between the planet and it's rings

Mars - well at least it's a bit reddish!

The waning crescent moon