Good morning from NYC!

"Did you see the full 'Wolf Moon' eat Mars?" - Forbes Magazine, 1/13/25

This pic from last night at 2058, Mars is the dot to the 1830 or so to the moon. What astronomers call "occultation", Mars would be 'hidden' behind the Moon for about 4 hours. The Wolf Moon is name for the January full Moon. But while it is close to the Moon, it is brightest it has been in over 3 years because it reflects more of the sun's light, and thus easily visible and distinguishable to the naked eye. Even at this increased illumination, Venus is still 25x brighter.

Forbes further explains the relative distance of the two - "Mars was 59.7 million miles (96.1 million kilometers) away from Earth, while the moon was 224,000 miles (360,000 kilometers) distant. That made Mars roughly 266 times farther than the moon."

Outer Space
January 13, 2025