APOD: 2022 December 15 - Full Moon, Full Mars

Good morning, Rallypoint, and welcome to the December 15th edition of Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD): "Full Moon, Full Mars." A 'lunar occultation' occurs when the view of a celestial object from Earth is blocked by the Moon. And both the Moon and planet Mars were in 'opposition' (directly opposite the Sun when viewed from Earth) when this sequence of images was captured a week ago (on December 8th). Best viewing would have been in the western US, but it was also nice and clear where these photos were taken (in Slovakia).

An 'occultation in opposition' is somewhat of an astronomical two-fer. The next Martian opposition will occur in January 2025. On top of that, Mars just reached perihelion, or its closest point to Earth in its orbit, a week ago, meaning it's still relatively close by (about 51 million miles away).

There will be two more occultations of Mars next month (Jan 2023). On January 3rd, you'll need to be in South Africa to see it. But on January 30th, it will be visible from the US Gulf Coast and across the southwest (e.g. Arizona, New Mexico, etc).