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                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2025 January 18

                            Full Moon, Full Mars
                   Image Credit & Copyright: David Bowman

   Explanation: On January 13 a Full Moon and a Full Mars were close, both
   bright and opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky. In fact Mars was
   occulted, passing behind the Moon, when viewed from some locations in
   North America and northwest Africa. As seen from Richmond, Virginia,
   USA, this composite image sequence follows the evening lunar
   occultation before, during, and after the much anticipated celestial
   spectacle. The telescopic time series is constructed from an exposure
   made every two minutes while tracking the Moon over the hours
   encompassing the event. As a result, the Red Planet's trajectory seems
   to follow a gently curved path due to the Moon's slightly different
   rate of apparent motion. The next lunar occultation of bright planet
   Mars will be on February 9 when the moon is in a waxing gibbous phase.
   Lunar occultations are only ever visible from a fraction of the Earth's
   surface, though. The February 9 occultation of Mars will be seen from
   parts of Russia, China, eastern Canada, Greenland and other (mostly
   northern) locations, but a close conjunction of a bright Moon with Mars
   will be more widely visible from planet Earth.

           Growing Gallery: Moon-Mars Occultation in January 2025
                       Tomorrow's picture: Touchdown!
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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