by Bill Murray

I wanted to alert those interested that there is a potentially spectacular observing event on the evening of Wed. Dec. 7th.

On that evening:
1. The Moon is full at 11:08 PM
2. Mars is at opposition less than 2 hours later at 12:36 AM on the morning of the 8th.
3. The two will be very, very close – about 11 PM the Moon will skim 1′ (about 5 Mars diameters) above Mars.
4. This is a very rare occurrence. For most of the country Mars will actually be occulted by the Moon but unfortunately not here in NJ. The Moon and Mars are very high (71° altitude) so if you can see straight up you should be able to see them.

We can meet in person (at the observatory) to view this event or since is late in the evening midweek we can set up a virtual EAA session to view it. Either way, we will send information out to members once the Observatory Chair decides.

Now, all we need is clear skies.