The Moon passes Mars: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher

The nearly full Moon will pass Mars on the evening of Dec. 17 in a brilliant conjunction.
By | Published: December 16, 2024

In this episode, Dave Eicher invites you to observe the nearly full Moon as it passes Mars on the evening of December 17. Both objects closely follow the Sun’s apparent path through the stars, called the ecliptic. This time, however, they’ll be quite close, only about 1 degree apart. That distance is twice the diameter of the Full Moon. Start by watching them in the early evening, and you’ll see the distance between them change through the night.


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