For all those who are fond of astronomy and sky watching, the month of January is undoubtedly the best time of the year to witness a phenomenon involving the planet Mars, that reddish point that shines next to Orion and these days ‘hides’ behind an old acquaintance of ours
With the help of a homemade telescope, you can witness and capture two interesting phenomena that have the red planet as the protagonist.
Look gradually at Mars retrograde
The first is the planet’s retrograde motion, which is less popular than Mercury’s, but it also happens, and began last December 7 and will continue throughout January until February 23. It is easy to find the planet, as it appears gradually bright over the eastern horizon after 8:00 p.m.
The famous occultation of Mars
Another anticipated phenomenon that has the red planet as the protagonist in the skies of January is that of its famous ‘occultation’, which is nothing more than the fact that it ‘disappears’ behind the moon, a phenomenon that occurs when our natural satellite ‘interposes’ between Mars and the Earth, something that works in a similar way to an eclipse.
This phenomenon will occur during the night of January 13 and will be visible to the naked eye throughout the continental United States, and for this you can even use binoculars. Stellarium Web or “Moon Occults Mars” from the Astronomical League have valuable information to calculate the best time to witness this phenomenon, and here we share with you the ideal places and times they recommend (city-occultation time-reappearance time).
- Albuquerque: 6:51 pm – 7:52 pm
- Augusta: 9:29 pm – 10:44 pm
- Atlanta: 9:06 pm – 10:13 pm
- Boise: 7:06 pm – 7:49 pm
- Boston: 9:26 pm – 10:42 pm
- Chicago: 8:08 pm – 9:16 pm
- Dallas: 7:54 pm – 8:57 pm
- Denver: 6:57 pm – 7:57 pm
- Kansas City: 8:00 pm – 9:06 pm
- Memphis: 8:00 pm – 9:07 pm
- Minneapolis: 8:08 pm – 9:10 pm
- Los Angeles: 5:51 pm – 6:45 pm
- Miami: 9:30 pm – 9:53 pm
- New Orleans: 8:00 pm – 8:59 pm
- New York: 9:21 p.m. – 10:37 p.m
- Phoenix: 6:49 pm – 7:48 pm
- Salt Lake City: 6:59 p.m. – 7:52 p.m
- San Antonio: 7:52 pm – 8:50 pm
- San Diego: 5:49 pm – 6:45 pm
- San Francisco: 5:58 pm – 6:45 pm
- Seattle: 6:23 pm – 6:39 pm
- Washington DC: 9:16 pm – 10:31 pm