Join the occult (Dec. 7th/8th, Moon will occult Mars.)

[collinsmark]

The Moon will occult Mars in less than a week for a good chunk of the northern hemisphere.

That's the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 7th, for all of Canada and much of the United States.

That's the wee morning hours of Thursday, Dec. 8th, for much of Europe.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/on-december-7-the-moon-will-photobomb-mars/

The image above implies that the event will happen at 04:25.1 UT, but even when correcting for you time zone, the times will still vary due to the parallax of where your location is on Earth (the Earth is not a single point).

Here's a rough list of some cities. Times are approximate, and I haven't double checked anything, so you might be better off getting out your planetarium software.
$$\begin{array}{|c|c|c|} \hline \mathrm{City} & \mathrm{Disappearance} & \mathrm{Reappearance} \\ \hline \mathrm{Augusta} & \mathrm{10:57 \ PM} & \mathrm{11:25 \ PM} \\ \hline \mathrm{Austin} & \mathrm{8:58 \ PM} & \mathrm{9:12 \ PM} \\ \hline \mathrm{Buffalo} & \mathrm{10:32 \ PM} & \mathrm{11:13 \ PM} \\ \hline \mathrm{Chicago} & \mathrm{9:10 \ PM} & \mathrm{10:04 \ PM} \\ \hline \mathrm{Columbus} & \mathrm{10:26 \ PM} & \mathrm{10:56 \ PM} \\ \hline \mathrm{Denver} & \mathrm{7:45 \ PM} & \mathrm{8:47 \ PM} \\ \hline \mathrm{Indianapolis} & \mathrm{10:16 \ PM} & \mathrm{10:56 \ PM} \\ \hline \mathrm{Kansas \ City} & \mathrm{8:57 \ PM} & \mathrm{9:51 \ PM} \\ \hline \mathrm{Little \ Rock} & \mathrm{9:06 \ PM} & \mathrm{9:32 \ PM} \\ \hline \mathrm{Los \ Angeles} & \mathrm{6:31 \ PM} & \mathrm{7:30 \ PM} \\ \hline \mathrm{Pheonix} & \mathrm{7:32 \ PM} & \mathrm{8:30 \ PM} \\ \hline \mathrm{Salt \ Lake \ City} & \mathrm{7:42 \ PM} & \mathrm{8:45 \ PM} \\ \hline \mathrm{San Antonio} & \mathrm{8:59 \ PM} & \mathrm{9:07 \ PM} \\ \hline \mathrm{San \ Francisco} & \mathrm{6:36 \ PM} & \mathrm{7:35 \ PM} \\ \hline \mathrm{Seattle} & \mathrm{6:53 \ PM} & \mathrm{7:50 \ PM} \\ \hline \mathrm{London} & \mathrm{05:00} & \mathrm{05:59} \\ \hline \mathrm{Paris} & \mathrm{06:05} & \mathrm{07:02} \\ \hline \mathrm{Stockholm} & \mathrm{05:54} & \mathrm{06:43} \\ \hline \mathrm{Hamburg} & \mathrm{05:59} & \mathrm{06:55} \\ \hline \mathrm{Berlin} & \mathrm{06:01} & \mathrm{06:55} \\ \hline \mathrm{Warsaw} & \mathrm{06:02} & \mathrm{06:53} \\ \hline \mathrm{Prague} & \mathrm{06:04} & \mathrm{06:59} \\ \hline \end{array}$$

A couple of interesting coincidences:

• The moon will be full.
• Mars will be at opposition.

Those are just coincidences, though. Occultations, in general, have nothing to do with full moons or oppositions. They're just interesting quirks in this case.

This event presents some good points and bad points.

• Bad points: If you're a planetary astrophotographer, and you're tying to image Mars, on its own, when it's near opposition, the moon might get in the way. Don't fret too much though. Try a day or two before the event; moon glare has little effect on planetary astrophotography. (Mars just past closest approach a couple days ago, so get out there as soon as possible.)
• Good points: If you're good at planetary astrophotography, it might make for some interesting shots with Mars right next to the very edge of the Moon (albeit tricky to get the exposure right). It also might be a good thing if you're into the occult, I'm guessing.

A personal bad point for me is that the event will not be visible from my back patio, since my building will be in the way. So I don't plan on photographing the event. Given my recent surgery, hauling my equipment out front is not in the cards* for me this time. So you're on your own for this event. You'll need to see it for yourself.

*(Etymologically speaking, "in the cards" is a Tarot reference.)

Even if you're not in the region of the world to view the occultation, it should make a particularly impressive conjunction.

My latest Mars image, from my back patio, 2022-11-30 08:51.0 UT.

 

[Drakkith]

A personal bad point for me is that the event will not be visible from my back patio, since my building will be in the way. So I don't plan on photographing the event.

I think Mars will just barely be visible in between some trees for me. Maybe I'll break out the telescope and snap a few images if the sky is clear. We'll see.

 

[DennisN]

"in the cards" is a Tarot reference

I consulted my Tarot deck, and pulled this card:

Someone must have snuck a Magic: The Gathering card into my deck.
I hope I'll pull a better card in the coming days, but things do not look promising over here.