Witness to an Occultation

Given clear winter skies, all of us in the US of A (with the exception of Alaska and Hawaii) will have the opportunity tomorrow morning to witness a celestial phenomenon known as a planetary occultation.  

These three planets will be lined-up in the early morning sky - Saturn at bottom, Jupiter (the brightest) and Mars at the top.   

Tomorrow morning Mars is going to disappear behind the moon just before dawn on February 18.  As the Moon passes between the Earth and Mars this phenomenon s called an occultation.  

For those of us in the CST zone the occultation begins in the predawn sky and then ends at dawn or sunrise. You should be able to see Mars before the occultation with the naked eye but may need binoculars to view Mars’ reappearance as the red planet emerges from the other side of the moon after the passage of a couple of hours.   

It gets even better.  The moon is going to cover Jupiter on February 19 and pass south of Saturn on February 20.

Raising a toast to early risers and cold, clear winger skies.