Joe Rao is Space.com's skywatching columnist, as well as a veteran meteorologist and eclipse chaser who also serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmers' Almanac and other publications. Joe is an 8-time Emmy-nominated meteorologist who served the Putnam Valley region of New York for over 21 years. You can find him on Twitter and YouTube tracking lunar and solar eclipses, meteor showers and more. To find out Joe's latest project, visit him on Twitter.
Mars crossed over from Aries into Taurus on Aug. 9 and will now remain within the boundaries of this constellation straight on through early next spring.
Currently Mars rises just before midnight and on Aug. 23 it will be 1 astronomical unit, or 92.9 million miles from Earth. On Aug. 26 it makes a right angle with the sun and Earth and as it continues to brighten, begins to call attention to itself in the late evening eastern sky.
The center of this climactic time is the opposition during the overnight hours of Dec. 7-8, but because this part of Mars's eccentric orbit slants outward, the moment of its closest approach to Earth — 50.6 million miles comes on Dec. 1. This will be the pinnacle of the current apparition, Mars will have ramped-up considerably in brilliance, appearing more than five times brighter than it does now; glowering with a steady, fiery light among the bright winter stars.Should skies be cloudy in your area early Friday morning, don't fret. Each month through the balance of the year will bring other moon-Mars encounters: Sept. 16, Oct. 14-15, Nov. 10 and Dec. 7.
That final get-together will be something rather special. South of a line running roughly from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico northeast to Boston, Mars will appear to graze the lower limb of the full moon, while north of that line the moon will appear to occult or hide it; a rather rare spectacle.
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