If you ’ve been out at night of late you ’ve probably discover a very bright reddish aim in the sky , visible even from metropolis suffering from badlight pollution . Tonight Mars is closer to Earth than it will be for another 11 years , making it tough to overlook in the night sky .

If you ’re in Western Europe , Canada , or most of the United States there will be an extra rationality to look up midweek . From London , Mars will go away behind the Moon at 4:58 am on December 8 , reappear at 5:58 am , a process known asan eclipse . It takes more than 30 seconds for the major planet to be fully snuffed out and to reappear , which can be fun to ascertain with even the smallest field glasses or telescope .

Lucky North Americans wo n’t even have to scuff themselves out of bed to see the event . On the west coast , it will start between 6 and 7 pm local time on December 7 , depending on location , and will also last about an hr . Even in Toronto , Mars does its disappearing number at a reasonably cultivated 10:29 pm – civilized at least if you ’re well rugged up .

America ’s east coast misses out on the existent occultation , but the view of the heavenly objects almost poignant as the Moon creeps by could also be worth it . you’re able to also keep an eye on the occultationvia live streamthanks to the Virtual Telescope Project which will be stream on December 8 from 4 am UTC .

The Moon passes in front of a satellite on average about once a month from somewhere on Earth but few are as dramatic as this . For object lesson , this class there have been sixoccultations of Uranus . Good as these are for puns , they ’ve very not showy – the seventh major planet not being visible to the naked eye , and hard to mark from a star in small telescope . When the Moon is even midway full it makes an object like Uranus even intemperately to see .

A rare exception take place in November when the occultationhappened to coincidewith the full lunar eclipse , but only if you were in parts of east Asia .

Mars is always much brighter than Uranus , create eclipse deserving a feel even without equipment , but it ’s presently peculiarly bright . By sheer coincidence this occultation occurs the same night Mars is at resistance , meaning it ’s directly opposite the Sun from us .

The Mars - Earth aloofness is the shortest around opposition , give or take a few twenty-four hour period to earmark for neither planet ’s electron orbit being perfectly circular . This means that Mars , which vary in brightness dramatically depending on its aloofness , will be unusually bright and , if looking through a telescope , its saucer will be particularly bombastic . The event will pass off in a part of the sky with many hopeful stars , with Aldebaran close by andOrionnot much further off . Mars , however , will outshine even Sirius so close to opposition .

If that was n’t enough to make this occultation stand out , this is the close Mars opposition until 2033 . The Martian domain is much more eccentric ( stretch out out ) than that of other satellite . When opposite occur near its farthest point from the Sun we see it at a distance almost twice as great as opponent coinciding with stuffy Mars - Sun approach .

This year ’s is the skillful for more than a X , so eclipse or not , enjoy Mars while you’re able to . The 2018 opposition was considerably closer , however , and 2003 was the closest approach in 50,000 years .