On the night of December 17, the Moon will pass close to Mars.
credit: Wikimedia Commons
In this episode, Dave Eicher invites you to observe the nearly full Moon as it passes Mars on the evening of December 17. Both objects closely follow the Sun’s apparent path through the stars, called the ecliptic. This time, however, they’ll be quite close, only about 1 degree apart. That distance is twice the diameter of the Full Moon. Start by watching them in the early evening, and you’ll see the distance between them change through the night.
