Astronomers from the Observatoire de Paris - PSL, the Observatoire de Côte d’Azur and the Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées in partnership with the Observatoire Camille Flammarion in Juvisy-sur-Orge of the Société Astronomique de France, are coordinating and will be in duplex from 5:30 am to 7:30 am, to make you live the occultation of Mars by the Moon.
| To follow the live
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The Moon will pass in front of the Red Planet. It will take several seconds to completely engulf it, before letting it reappear a little less than an hour later on the other side.
Subject to good weather conditions, the show promises to be magnificent with a true sunset and sunrise of Mars behind the lunar limb.
This phenomenon will begin at 6:05 a.m. (French legal time) and end at 7:02 a.m., when Mars will be at its "opposition" precisely for the duration of its occultation. In other words, when we look at the Moon and Mars, the Sun will be exactly in the back, in a diametrically opposed position. The three stars will then be in almost perfect alignment.
At that moment, at 75 million km from the Earth, Mars will be close to its maximum brightness with a visual magnitude of -1.87, while its apparent angular size will be substantial, 17 seconds of degree.
The occultation will therefore be particularly easy to observe with the naked eye, visible from a large part of northern and western Europe, North America and northern Africa.
In France, it will be possible to follow it everywhere and without difficulty in the middle of the city, provided that the northwestern horizon is clear. The last visible occultation in France was on May 15, 1972 - the previous one was on February 24, 1948 - and the next one will occur on August 16, 2052. This phenomenon is therefore very rare to observe from a given location and should not be missed under any circumstances.
| [A dedicated website For this occasion, the Institute of Celestial Mechanics and Ephemeris Calculations within the Paris Observatory - PSL has developed a specific website. This one contains all the data and advices necessary to its observation, the explanation of the phenomenon itself, the history and the interest of planetary and stellar occultations. https://mars2022.imcce.fr/ |
The retransmission is organized in several French astronomical sites - Meudon, Juvisy-sur-Orge, Nice, Pic du Midi de Bigorre and Arras, in order to multiply the chances of observation by overcoming unfavorable local weather circumstances. Commented by planetologists, it will also be an opportunity to review the Martian news, with news of the missions currently exploring the Red Planet : Insight, Curiosity and Perseverance.
If this event of December 2022 is a show mainly offered to the metropolitans, it is to foresee a catching up session in the southern hemisphere, on the side of the Indian Ocean, on January 3, 2023.