A rare lunar occultation of Mars will be visible from parts of the world this month. Abigail Beall explains how to spot it
Space 30 November 2022
Tacio Philip Sansonovski/Alamy
EARLIER this year, I wrote about how to watch the faint planet Uranus disappear behind the moon, in a rare event known as a lunar occultation. Now, it is time for another lunar occultation, but this time of Mars (pictured, to the left of the moon).
Uranus, which is 2.6 billion kilometres away from Earth at the closest point in its orbit, is difficult to see with the naked eye. Mars, although much smaller, is far easier to spot. As our nearest planetary neighbour, Mars can get as close as 56 million kilometres away, at which point it is …
