On Wednesday (Dec. 7), skywatchers around the world were treated to a celestial show as the full moon eclipsed Mars in the night sky.
The rare event, known as a lunar eclipse, refers to one celestial body — Mars in this case — appearing to disappear or hide behind another — in this case the moon. This eclipse was especially notable because Mars was in opposition, meaning Earth was directly between Mars and the sun, making the red planet appear particularly bright in the night sky.
Related: See Mars at Opposition in These Free Webcasts Tonight (December 8)
View of the last full moon of 2022 through Christmas lights in San Salvador, El Salvador. (Image credit: Camilo Freedman/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Last night’s full moon eclipse of Mars produced some beautiful images from observers around the world. California’s Griffith Observatory had a great view of the Moon-Mars convergence on Dec. 7, capturing a time-lapse of the Red Planet disappearing behind Earth’s celestial companion, as seen in the video above.
In addition, skywatchers around the world have been posting beautiful images of the Martian lunar eclipse to social media, providing a glimpse into one of the most watched celestial events of the year.
Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy captured Mars and the full moon (opens in new tab) in a beautiful close-up:
Spaceflight photographer John Kraus caught one beautiful image of Mars (opens in new tab) as it appeared behind the moon after eclipse:
Amateur astrophotographer Tom Williams produced a beautiful image of the Moon and Mars by combining multiple images and offering an explanation of how he created the image (opens in new tab) on Twitter.
Amateur astronomer and photographer Tom Glenn produced a breathtaking image of Mars (opens in new tab) rise above the moon by stacking 15 different photo frames.
Astronomer and science communicator Phil Plait caught Mars creeps behind the moon (opens in new tab) just before the eclipse.
The lunar eclipse of Mars by the full Cold Moon was especially notable because the Red Planet only appears in opposition every 26 months, so the next opposition will not occur until January 2025.
Mars was also particularly close to Earth during this event, which occurred while the planet was at perigee, or closest to Earth in its orbit. The record for the closest approach between Mars and Earth was set in 2003 at just 34.8 million miles (56 million kilometers); according to NASA, Mars and Earth won’t be that close for the next 265 years, until 2287.
Editor’s Note: If you take a great photo of either Mars at opposition or lunar eclipse and want to share it with Space.com readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to [email protected] .
Editor’s Note: This piece was updated on Dec. 8 at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT) to indicate that the record for Mars’ closest approach to Earth was set in 2003.
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