Posted on 08/15/2020 10:08:47 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: Does the Moon ever block out Mars? Yes, the Moon occasionally moves in front of all of the Solar System's planets. Just this past Sunday, as visible from some locations in South America, a waning gibbous Moon eclipsed Mars. The featured image from Córdoba, Argentina captured this occultation well, showing a familiar cratered Moon in the foreground with the bright planet Mars unusually adjacent. Within a few seconds, Mars then disappeared behind the Moon, only to reappear a few minutes later across the Moon. Today the Moon moves close to, but not in front of, Venus. Because alignments will not have changed by much, the next two times the Moon passes through this part of the sky – in early September and early October – it will also occult Mars, as seen from parts of South America.
I am starting a NASA/APOD/Astronomy ping list. To be added or removed please send me a requestvia “Private Reply” (Mail).
I believe Sunkenciv has the original APOD pinglist.
OK, thanks. I will try to coordinate.
OK, thanks. I will try to coordinate.
“Hey, moon, you make a better door than a window!”
In 2020, Mars will make its closest approach to Earth on October 6th, when the two planets will be seperated by about 38M miles.
I used video to capture this image, if I recall this was about 24 frames per second with a total of about 1500 frames, after processing I was left with left about 600 frames for the final image. Center of image is Mare Crisium, is the result from a large meteor impact about 3.9 billion years ago. The smooth floor is about 400 miles in diameter. Lava flow features are clearly evident on the floor of the mare.
Interesting note, Russia's Luna 15 spacecraft crash-landed in Mare Crisium in 1969.
That is a nice image!
Thanks!
“Puny Earthlings! We will destroy you!’’.
That is the Death Star approaching Earth!
What happens next....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g77WN6obk4
Wow! That’s going to create a huge crater when it hits...
Get any Starlink sat’s in your images?
Not sure if they were Starlink’s junk, but yes, I’ve had more than a few objects enter the field of view during imaging.
Hopefully someone will get a handle of all the space junk they’re putting into orbit for profit. If not, looking at our once pristine night skies, will look like one giant pong game.
Excellent image! What size and kind of telescope did you use?
Thanks. This was a 10” Schmidt Cassegrain with a 6.3 focal reducer in the optical train, sitting on about 1200 pounds of concrete pier/footing for better stability. The FR probably should have been removed prior to the shoot. This was the first image I took remotely from inside my hideout on a wireless connection to the observatory. I just set up a 10 year old computer inside the observatory to control the camera/imaging and the scope remotely if needed. It’s an old desktop system but after some TLC, works very well for remote control.
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