This morning, the Moon passed in front of the planet Mars.  My view of the event from the east coast of the US was entirely daylight, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to resolve anything.

I was up around 6:30am, and the sky was mostly clear.  I stepped out on the back deck and took a couple quick photos of the Moon with the telephoto lens.  6:44am.  The Sun was just rising, and the sky was already very blue, bright enough so that Mars was invisible to the naked eye – so I just took some hopeful shots, about 43 minutes before it was to disappear.  Then I went back inside to take a shower and get ready for work.

After my shower, the sky was covered with a patchwork of fast-moving wispy clouds that matched the color of the crescent Moon almost exactly.  I pulled out the telescope, and started trying to line things up – but it was frustrating, as I couldn’t see ANYTHING against the field of blue and white.  I’d pull my eye off the scope and look up – clouds everywhere… oh, there’s the Moon coming back out again.  Back to the telescope…

And then FINALLY, a good, zoomed in shot of the Moon’s eastern limb.  Just then, my wife, standing beside me, said “My watch shows 7:28”.  One minute too late… sure enough, no Mars…

I took the kids to school and went to work.  By 8:30 the skies were completely overcast, no hope of seeing a reappearance.  But just in case, I went back and examined those earlier shots from the back deck.

The Moon is sliding left, and will pass in front of Mars in about 43 minutes.  Unedited (except cropping) photo taken Feb 18,2020, 11:44 UTC (6:44 am Local)

What do you know?  I DID catch Mars!!

Get Out There
Troy
http://www.flying-squirrel.org