dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (12/07/85)
From parts of the U.S. tomorrow morning, Mars will be behind the moon. More -- after this. December 7 Occultation of Mars Tomorrow Tomorrow morning, from parts of the southeastern United States, the red planet Mars will pass behind the moon. This event is called an occultation of Mars. If you were situated in just the right place, and if you used a telescope, you could see the red planet emerge from the dark part of the moon around 4 a.m. Eastern Time tomorrow. The occultation of Mars will be visible from Washington D.C. -- and from Miami, among other places. If you're interested in observing it, you'll probably want to check one of the astronomy magazines for more details. From the northeastern U.S., the moon will be seen to just miss Mars. In other parts of the country, Mars will appear near the moon in the predawn sky tomorrow. So for most of us, a peek outside before dawn on Sunday will reveal Mars as a faint reddish star just above the moon. That makes Sunday morning a good time to look for Mars -- whether or not you see the occultation. There's also a star near Mars now in the east before dawn. That star is Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo. When the moon has moved on, sinking lower in the east with each new day as it moves toward the east in its orbit, Mars and Spica will continue to be visible near each other before dawn for some weeks to come. By the way, if you are outside before dawn, look low in the east for two other planets. Mercury and Saturn are near each other. They should be becoming visible to the eye shortly before sunup. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin