Tonight will be a special night for astronomers as Mars will appear next to the full moon in an “extremely rare sight.”
From dusk until dawn, the red planet will be visible to everyone in Ireland.
According to David Moore, editor of Astronomy Ireland magazine, Mars approaches Earth every 2.1 years and will be “exceptionally bright to the naked eye” this evening.
“To have the full moon very close to it while Mars is so bright is an extremely rare sight,” he said.
Mars will appear to be just as close, but it will actually be 200 times farther away from Earth than the Moon, which is only 0.4 million kilometres away. Mars is currently 86 million kilometres away.
“As people stand looking at this marvellous sight in evening skies they can spare a thought that Mars is actually twice as wide as the Moon, but being 200 times further away makes it look just like a bright ‘dot’ compared to the Moon’s huge disk,” Moore said.
Looking east from around 7 o’clock, when Mars and the Moon will be rising, will help people see the planet tonight. At least until well after midnight, it should be visible.
If you don’t see it tonight, Mars will be visible every evening with the naked eye as an extremely bright ‘star’ from now until well into the New Year.
The planet will get even closer to the Moon next month and pass behind it on December 8 morning.