BOSTON – The highlight of the week is coming tonight in the night sky – the lunar occultation of Mars.
First off, at 5:27 p.m. the moon will be officially full. The full January moon is known as the “Wolf” moon. It will rise in the east at 4:09 p.m. today.
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If you look up at the moon around 6 p.m., you will notice the “Red Planet” very close by, just a smidge to the lower left of the moon.
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Full moon will occult Mars
But wait, there’s more. Tonight, the moon will “occult” Mars. This is a fancy way of saying the moon will pass in front of and completely cover up the planet.
This only occurs with the planet Mars about once every 14 years or so.
When to see the lunar occultation of Mars in Boston
In Boston and surrounding towns, this phenomenon will occur between 9:26 p.m. and 10:42 p.m. (disappearance and reappearance times).
While it will be easy to see the moon and Mars early in the evening with the naked eye, watching the actual occultation will require a bit of hardware, say binoculars or a telescope.
This is because the full moon is so bright, that as Mars approaches it, it will get washed out and overwhelmed by its light. The moon is about 40,000 times as bright as the planet Mars.
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The moon will move from the upper right of Mars to the lower left in the course of that hour and 16 minutes.
If you miss this occurrence, the next favorable moon occultation of Mars in our area won’t come until Feb. 5, 2042.
One caveat: There will be some scattered clouds in the area tonight, especially early this evening.
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The greatest amount of cloud cover will come along with a few rain or snow showers around 5-7 p.m.
We should see clearing after that, perhaps just in time for the occultation.
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Storm for the weekend?
We’ve got a fairly quiet week of weather ahead.
There will be a few rain or snow showers this evening, followed by another dip in temperatures through the midweek. Finally, our next chance at any significant storminess will come next weekend, but the jury is still out on how impactful this one will be, it looks like rain for most of southern New England.
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High temperatures will be below average for most of the rest of the week.
No rain or snow expected after Monday evening’s scattered shower for the rest of the work week.
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