The full wolf moon “eats” Mars on January 13th. Here's how to watch it

Just four days after passing the Pleiades star cluster, the moon will cross paths with another remarkable celestial object on Monday evening, January 13, occluding the planet Mars, now shining as brightly as it can be new year 2025.

The opportunity to see the moon obscure a bright planet at night doesn’t come around too often; For Mars, this can happen at a given location on Earth about once every 14 years (on average). So if you’re lucky enough to live in the occultation zone and the weather cooperates, you really shouldn’t miss this upcoming event.

The moon will be only a few hours past its full phase during the occultation. Traditionally, the January full moon is called the “Wolf Moon.” Right now it’s officially full – 5:27 p.m. EST (2227 GMT) – it will be diametrically opposed to the sun in the sky. By pure coincidence, Mars is also in the opposite direction to the Sun, although the actual moment of “opposition” will not occur until late Wednesday, January 15th. Still, both objects, the Moon and Mars, will be close enough to each other that during Monday evening the Moon will temporarily hide the planet from view, and in much of North America there will be a ringside seat to view it observe.

Mars is no match for the moon

This event’s zone of visibility includes virtually all of the contiguous (lower 48) United States and much of central and eastern Canada. Because Mars is near opposition at its lunar encounter, it will shine brightest in this current appearance; It shines at magnitude -1.3 and is slightly less noticeable compared to the brightest star in the sky (Sirius).

And yet, just before Mars disappears and later reappears behind the Moon, Mars is likely to be overwhelmed by the Moon’s brightness. The moon will almost be 40,000 times brighter than Mars. To actually see it disappear or reappear, you’ll need a telescope or at least a good pair of binoculars. Be sure to check out our guides for tips on how to do this Photograph the planets or Photograph the moon during this lunar occultation.

However, a few hours before or after the occultation, Mars will be clearly visible to the naked eye, shining brightly near the dazzling disk of this first full moon of the winter season. People who don’t know or have no warning will almost certainly ask themselves when they take a casual look at our nearest neighbor in space on this second Monday in January: What is that “bright orange-yellow light”?

Sometimes such occasions result in a sudden flood of calls to radio and television stations, local planetariums, weather offices and police stations. Quite a few of these calls excitedly ask about “the mysterious UFO” (or perhaps these days a drone?) hovering near our natural satellite!

a reddish-orange ball with dark spots and a white spot at the bottom

A photograph of Mars taken by Frank J. Melillo of Holtsville (Long Island), New York, on December 18, 2024. (Image credit: Frank Melillo)

A gradual fading out

Unlike a star, which is a tiny point of light and would disappear and reappear in an instant, Mars appears in telescopes as a small disk; Due to its relatively large angular size (14.6 arcseconds diameter), the occultation will occur at a more “leisurely” pace. So the disappearance of Mars behind the Moon’s bright edge takes between about 30 seconds to almost a minute in most places (or even longer in places where the Moon’s edge approaches it at an angle).

For example, from Washington DC, the Moon’s slow eastward drift will take about 30 seconds to completely cover the planet’s disk. The planet’s reappearance will also occur gradually. Moving eastward every hour at its own apparent diameter against the background stars, the Moon appears to approach Mars from the west (right) and eventually pass in front of it, only to shortly thereafter expose it and leave it behind as the Moon continues eastward.

Pasture conditions

In the United States, the northern limit of visibility of this occultation runs southwest to northeast through Jefferson and Clallam counties in Washington state, including Olympic National Park, and through nearby Skagit and Whatcom counties. Here, a spectacular partial occultation will be visible along a strip about 40 km wide, with the Martian disk running along the edge of the Moon. Port Angeles, Washington, for example, will be within this zone and will be able to observe the moon partially covering Mars for about seven minutes starting at about 6:27 p.m. Pacific time.

To the north, outside this zone, in places like Vancouver Island, Mars appears to barely miss touching the Moon’s edge.

Meanwhile, the southern edge of the occultation will circle the Florida Keys.

A reddish-orange ball passes behind a bright full moon

A NASA/JPL animation of Mars’ lunar occultation on January 13, 2025. (Image credit: NASA/JPL)

Events calendar

The table below provides the specific details for 16 selected US cities. Civilian times are given for the disappearance and reappearance of Mars behind the Moon. Both the disappearance and reappearance of the planet can take anywhere from 30 seconds to over a minute, depending on whether Mars passes centrally behind the Moon (and is covered for an hour or more) or, as in the case of Seattle or Miami, in near its outer edge (and is covered for less than half an hour).

The disappearance and reappearance times are for the center of Mars. The table was adapted using data from the International Occultation Timers Association (IOTA). This website Provides specific universal time disappearance and reappearance information for over 600 locations in North America and West and Central Africa. Also included is a Mercator map showing the region where the occultation will be visible.

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Location	Time zone	Mars is disappearing	Mars appears again
Los Angeles	PST	5:50 p.m	6:45 p.m
Seattle	PST	6:21 p.m	6:39 p.m
Denver	MST	6:57 p.m	7:56 p.m
Helena	MST	7:11 p.m	7:51 p.m
Dallas	CST	7:54 p.m	8:57 p.m
New Orleans	CST	8:00 p.m	8:58 p.m
St Louis	CST	8:02 p.m	9:10 p.m
Chicago	CST	8:07 p.m	9:16 p.m
Minneapolis	CST	8:08 p.m	9:10 p.m
Atlanta	EST	9:06 p.m	10:12 p.m
Cincinnati	EST	9:07 p.m	10:18 p.m
Charlotte	EST	9:10 p.m	10:20 p.m
Washington, D.C	EST	9:16 p.m	10:30 p.m
new York	EST	9:21 p.m	10:37 p.m
Boston	EST	9:26 p.m	10:42 p.m
Miami	EST	9:26 p.m	9:53 p.m

In addition to the schedule, we also created a chart depicting Mars’ path behind the Moon for seven cities: Seattle, Los Angeles, Helena, Dallas, New York. New Orleans and Miami.

A photo of the Moon with seven different arrows passing behind it, indicating where Mars will disappear and reappear behind it

An illustration showing the path behind the Moon that Mars will take on January 13, 2025, as seen from seven cities: Seattle, Los Angeles, Helena, Dallas, New York. New Orleans and Miami. (Image credit: Joe Rao/Smartshots International/Getty Images)

The next occultation of Mars favorable for North America will occur on February 5, 2042. The moon will be a waning moon about four hours after the full moon. The very next day Mars comes into opposition.

Not all Mars oppositions are the same

Mars travels just over half of its orbit each year and therefore has oppositions every two years plus about 50 days (its “synodic period”). Before 2025, the last objection was on December 8, 2022; After 2025, the next one will take place on February 19, 2027. This year, it will reach resistance on January 15th at 9:31 p.m. Eastern Time.

On average, Mars is 48.2 million miles (77.6 million km) away as Earth passes by. In 2025, Mars will be farther than average from Earth. At 8:37 a.m. Eastern Time on January 12, Mars will be 59.7 million miles (96.1 million km) away. The greatest distance occurs when Earth passes Mars at a time when the planet is furthest from the Sun.

Such a circumstance will occur in 2027: on March 4 of this year, Mars will be at aphelion, its furthest point from the Sun. Less than two weeks earlier, when Earth passes Mars in our respective orbits, they will be up to 63 million miles (101.4 million kilometers) apart; This will be the largest distance for any opposition since 1948.

The minimum distance occurs when the Earth passes Mars at a time when the planet is at the point in its orbit that is closest to the Sun (perihelion). These exceptionally close approaches – called perihelic oppositions – occur at intervals of 15 or 17 years. They always take place in either August or September because at this time of year the Earth passes the point on Mars’ orbit that is closest to the Sun.

One of Mars’ closest approaches in nearly 60,000 years occurred in 2003, when Earth passed Mars on August 27 at a distance of just 34,646,000 miles (55,746,000 km). At this point, Mars appeared nearly 42% larger and glowed almost four times brighter as it appears in our current night sky!

The next perihelic opposition will take place in September 2035. Mark your calendar!

Joe Rao is a lecturer and visiting professor at New York University Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Journal of Natural HistoryThe Farmer’s Almanac and other publications.

Editor’s note: If you want to take a good photo of the celestial pair and share it with Space.com readers, send your photos, comments, and your name and location to [email protected].

Breaking News

Dellupodisabato

The full wolf moon “eats” Mars on January 13th. Here’s how to watch it

Leave a Reply Cancel reply