Here’s how to see Mars disappear behind the Moon on 8 December

On Thursday 8 December many will look to the skies as Mars will disappear completely behind the full Moon..

The Guardian reports that the occultation will be visible with the naked eye. South Africans will however unfortunately miss out, but if you are in the United Kingdom (UK) – set an alarm!

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SET YOUR ALARM AND SEE MARS DISAPPEAR

“The Moon passes in front of planets in the night sky several times per year,” NASA told Yahoo! News.

“In fact, it generally occults Mars itself at least a couple of times per year. But each occultation is visible from only a small portion of Earth’s surface, so it’s not super common for any particular spot on Earth to see them frequently,” NASA added.

According to The Guardian, stargazers can look west from London at 04.30 GMT. The moon will move closer to Mars and at about 4.58am GMT on Thursday, Mars will disappear behind the moon’s western hemisphere. It will reappear about an hour later from behind the eastern limb.

The timing could vary several minutes across the UK depending on where exactly you are located.

The occultation will be visible across northern Europe, Greenland and North America. The tip of north Africa will also catch a view.

MailOnline reports that the red planet will appear bigger and brighter in the sky as it’ll be at its closest point to Earth – around 50million miles (81million km) away. 

As per reports, people in the UK and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, Mars will not be visible this clearly again until 2030s.

Dr Robert Massey at the Royal Astronomical Society, told MailOnline that Mars will be clearly visible when looking east. “If you want to see Mars, go out after sunset when it’s dark and look east. It will be really obvious if you’ve got a clear sky – a brilliant red dot,” Massey said.

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