As the waning crescent moon rises in the small hours of the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 18, skywatchers will be preparing for an unusual event. That morning the moon glides in front of orange, starlike planet Mars for viewers in much of central and eastern North America, in what is known as an occultation.
Parts of the western and central U.S. and Canada will be able to view both the disappearance and reappearance of the Red Planet in a dark or twilight sky. However, from western Canada, the Pacific Northwest and northern portions of California and Nevada, only the end of the occultation will be seen, since Mars will already be behind the moon when it rises around 3:30 a.m. local time. On the other hand, across the Eastern U.S., the planet will both disappear and emerge after sunup.
Under reasonably dark skies, this event can be watched over western locations with the naked eye or binoculars, although a telescope will provide the best views. Over the Desert Southwest and parts of the Rocky Mountain States along and east of the Continental Divide, the entire event will occur under a dark sky, but will take place very low in the east-southeast; an open view of the horizon is required. Right now, Mars is relatively faint at magnitude +1.2 and will be dimmed further by its low altitude, but it should not be hard to spot.
The waning crescent moon and the planet Mars will put on a show Feb. 18, appearing quite close to each other in the southeastern sky. The moon will pass in front of Mars, blocking the planet from view, but for the eastern half of the U.S. this will occur during daylight and will not be visible without a telescope. For much of the western half of North America, the occultation of Mars by the moon should be visible to the naked eye. (Image credit: NASA JPL)
Near and immediately east (right) of a line extending roughly from Santa Barbara, California to Idaho Falls, Idaho to Havre, Montana, the bright limb of the moon occults the planet when it is still too low to view. But Mars’ reappearance from behind the moon’s dark limb will be much more observable, because the moon will be higher above the horizon and the planet won’t be washed out by the crescent’s bright glare.
Unlike the pinpoint image of a star, which upon interaction with the moon appears to vanish or reappear as if you’ve clicked a switch, the larger apparent size of Mars causes it to disappear or emerge more gradually. About 15 seconds should elapse for the moon to fully cover (or uncover) the tiny disk of Mars after the edges of the two bodies appear to make contact. But the duration will be slightly longer for locations well to the north or south, where the occultation is not nearly central.
Mars currently shows a gibbous disk with an apparent diameter of 5.1 arc seconds. The first speck of light from the Red Planet when it reappears from behind the moon will be at the moon’s dark limb and can be spotted by an observer looking in the right place with a small telescope. Mars will emerge into view as a tiny, brilliant fiery blob — seemingly like a burst of lava from some great lunar volcano.
This diagram shows the path Mars will take behind the moon for a dozen U.S. cities. (Image credit: Joe Rao)
In order to help observers anticipate where Mars will disappear (behind the moon’s bright limb) and reappear (from behind the moon’s dark limb), the accompanying diagram shows the apparent path of Mars as seen from various cities. The numbers specify the cities as given in this list. For some locations (such as San Francisco, #17), the disappearance will occur before moonrise, so its track on the left is not shown.
More difficult farther east
As one heads east, the occultation will take place after the break of dawn and the advance of morning twilight. Across the northern and central Great Plains, as well as the western half of Oklahoma and Texas, Mars will disappear in a dark sky, but twilight will be well advanced when it reappears. Binoculars or a telescope will be needed to see the emergence from behind the moon’s dark limb. From the Great Lakes, Greater Ohio Valley and the Deep South, Mars will disappear in a twilight sky and reappear after sunrise.
And for New England, upstate New York, Toronto and Montreal, the greater New York City area and New Jersey, Middle Atlantic Coast, Piedmont and Southeast Coast including Florida, the entire occultation will be a daytime affair.
Trying to see the occultation from these regions will prove to be quite a challenge to say the least!
Prior to sunrise, you’ll see Mars sitting less than a couple of degrees to the left of the 24% illuminated lunar crescent. Moving at roughly its own apparent diameter per hour, the moon will appear to gradually creep closer to Mars as they slowly ascend and the background sky turns progressively brighter. With the naked eye alone, you’ll probably lose sight of Mars about a half hour before sunrise, though it still should be readily visible through binoculars and small telescopes. To continue seeing it after sunrise however, will require a very clear (haze-free) day. The surface brightness of Mars (amount of light per square arc second) is about equal to that of the moon.
In the accompanying table, predicted times at 28 cities are given for this “Mars eclipse.” Also included is whether the event in question takes place in a dark sky, at mid-twilight (30 to 60 minutes before sunrise), bright twilight (30 minutes to just a few minutes before sunrise), near sunrise (within a couple of minutes of sunup) and daytime (after sunrise).
For San Francisco and Seattle, where no time is listed under disappearance, that event occurs before moonrise.
The turquoise curves show where the disappearance or reappearance occurs at moonrise (left side) or moonset (right side); there is no northern limit as that misses the Earth to the north. The southern limit of the occultation, from which a partial occultation will be visible in a strip about 5 miles wide, crosses the n.e. Pacific Ocean and southern Mexico (white line, event at night), Central America (dark blue line that’s hardly visible, event during morning twilight), and northern S. America and the Atlantic Ocean (red dotted line, event during daylight).
Times and map are courtesy of Mr. David Dunham, International Occultation Timers association.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
