I Do Not Know How

As the subsiding crescent moon rises in the little hours of the early morning of Tuesday, Feb. 18, skywatchers will be preparing for an unusual occasion. That early morning the moon glides in front of orange, starlike world Mars for viewers in much of main and eastern North America, in what is understood as an occultation.

Parts of the western and central U.S. and Canada will have the ability to view both the disappearance and reappearance of the Red Planet in a dark or twilight sky. From western Canada, the Pacific Northwest and northern portions of California and Nevada, only the end of the occultation will be seen, considering that Mars will currently be behind the moon when it rises around 3:30 a.m. local time. On the other hand, throughout the Eastern U.S., the world will both disappear and emerge after sunup.Under reasonably

dark skies, this occasion can be watched over western places with the naked eye or binoculars, although a telescope will offer the finest views. Over the Desert Southwest and parts of the Rocky Mountain States along and east of the Continental Divide, the whole occasion will take place under a dark sky, however will happen really low in the east-southeast; an open view of the horizon is needed. Right now, Mars is relatively faint at magnitude +1.2 and will be dimmed further by its low altitude, but it ought to not be hard to spot. Near and right away east(right)of a line extending approximately from Santa

Barbara, California to Idaho Falls, Idaho to Havre, Montana, the brilliant limb of the moon occults the world when it is still too low to see. Mars’reappearance from behind the moon’s dark limb will be much more observable, since the moon will be greater above the horizon and the planet will not be cleaned out by the crescent’s bright glare.Unlike the identify image of a star, which upon interaction with the moon appears to vanish or reappear as if you’ve clicked a switch, the larger obvious size of Mars triggers it to vanish or emerge more gradually. About 15 seconds must expire for the moon to completely cover(or uncover)the small disk of Mars after the edges of the two bodies appear to make contact. The duration will be somewhat longer for locations well to the north or south, where the occultation is not almost central. Mars presently shows a gibbous disk with an obvious diameter of 5.1 arc seconds. The very first speck of light from the Red World when it comes back from behind the moon will be at the moon’s

dark limb and can be found by an observer searching in the best place with a little telescope. Mars will emerge into view as a small, fantastic fiery blob– seemingly like a burst of lava from some fantastic lunar volcano. In order to assist observers prepare for where Mars will disappear(behind the moon’s bright limb)and reappear(from behind the moon’s dark limb), the accompanying diagram shows the apparent course of Mars as seen from various cities. The numbers define the cities as given in this list. For some locations(such as San Francisco, # 17), the disappearance will occur prior to moonrise, so its track left wing is not revealed. Harder farther east As one heads east, the occultation will happen after the break of dawn and the advance of morning twilight. Throughout the northern and main Terrific Plains, as well as the western half of Oklahoma and Texas, Mars will disappear in a dark sky, but golden