The night of January 14th will be recorded in the diaries of the observers Canary Islands like the night when Mars disappeared from the sky: it lasted only an hour and was an expected event, like all those that occur cyclically… but this will not be repeated until 2056.
It was the woman’s fault Moonwhich due to its position in the rotation around the Earth – and that of Mars in its orbit – has obscured the Red Planet for those who watched it from this side of theAtlanticas explained today by theInstituto de Astrophysics de Canarias (IAC).
An unrepeatable astronomical event
To complete the ephemeris, the phenomenon coincided precisely at the moment in which the position of Mars in the sky was opposite to that of Sun and as close as possible to Earth. That is when it shines the brightest at night and when it can be seen in greatest detail.
«In this distribution of the stars, the Moon it has no choice but to be in the full moon phase when it passes in front of the planet, which is a real spectacle”, summarizes theIAC.
The time-lapse of the phenomenon
The staff of the Canarian observatories recorded everything in a “time-lapse”, an accelerated sequence of photos that condenses just over an hour into just 41 seconds. In it, Mars seems to move in the sky until it hides behind the Moon. In reality it is the opposite, says theIAC: «It’s there Moon that in its rapid orbit around the Earth passes in front of the planet.”
See you in 2056
For those who observe the sky from Canary Islandsthe show will repeat itself in 31 years.