Lunar Occultation of Mars, 17th April 2021

[Bluecloudyeagle]

 

Today, an extremely rare celestial event took place. The moon passed in front of the planet Mars, obscuring it from view for around 1 hour. This event was only visible from a small part of the world, around southeast Asia  I was able to capture the reappearance of Mars from behind the moon at 7:11pm local time! An absolutely incredible experience. My first planetary occultation. 

Last night there were thunderstorms in my area, so I was trying to keep my hopes down for the big day. But fortunately, I lucked out with clear sky. I have waited for this event since 1+ year, so I’m extremely glad I was able to capture it. Mars has moved away from the earth and is quite small in the sky now, hence the surface details aren’t as good as last year end.

This image is a blend of two videos, processed and stacked to compensate for the relative motion of the moon and Mars.

EXIF:
GSO 8” CC
CEM-40
Neximage 5
Best 5% of 10,000 frames for mars
best 10% of 2,500 frames for moon
AS3, Registax, Lightroom
17th April 2021, 7:11pm

 

 

[Space Hopper]

Superb....!! 😀👍🏼

[Bluecloudyeagle]

13 hours ago, Space Hopper said:

Superb....!! 😀👍🏼

thanks  

[Tan Zhi Qi]

This is really amazing! Hope that I have a telescope to view it... 

[AstroAndy]

Awesome capture.

[maw lod qan]

Great images!

I witnessed it once a year or so ago. Mars was just a tiny speck but when it winked of of sight it was amazing!