Lunar Occultation

I decided to have a go at photographing the lunar occultation this morning, after having read about it last week.

So ….. this morning the full moon was 399,000 km from Earth, and I woke up at 4.30am to see it. I had seen it being tracked and gradually caught up by the planet Mars last night - the red planet is currently at its closest point of orbit to Earth, 56 million km. At almost 5am this morning Mars touched the moon, and 36 seconds later disappeared behind it. At that point, it being cold looking out of a side window and myself in need of more sleep, I went back to bed. So I missed Mars emerging on the other side of the moon one hour later. It was also very cloudy, so I was lucky to get some images. Mars was not as bright as it should have been because of the cloud. It is at this point in opposition to Earth, meaning it is exactly on the other side of Earth from the Sun, so brighter because its face is fully lit (that next happens January 2025).

In the main image Mars is the red dot top left of the moon. A Lunar and Mars extra, and then one which fits Ingeborg brief for abstract Thursday. The map on the wall was given to me on my retirement, and is centred on my place of work for the 28 years up to my retirement.