This week it is Mars’s turn to receive a visit from the moon. After last week’s full moon, Earth’s natural satellite is now in its waning phases. It is rising later and later, with less and less of its visible surface illuminated.
When it meets Mars this week on 15 October, 74.8% of its visible surface will be illuminated by the sun. Mars will be its usual baleful red colour, and will make an interesting triangle with the red giant stars Aldebaran in Taurus, the bull, and Betelgeuse in Orion, the hunter.
The chart shows the view looking east from London at midnight on 15-16 October. The stellar vista in which the conjunction takes place is extraordinarily beautiful. Orion will be rising from the eastern horizon; Gemini – the twins – will be in the sky and climbing. Meanwhile Mars and the moon will be framed between Auriga, the charioteer, and Taurus. It will afford an excellent opportunity to spend some time out under the night sky, star hopping from one bright star to another and tracing out the associated constellations.
The view is repeated, just upside down, from Sydney, Australia, where viewers should look north.
