Conjunction between the Moon and Mars
2016 Feb 29
Dominic Ford – originally published on In-The-Sky.org
The Moon and Mars will make a close approach, passing within 3°31' of each other.
From London (click to change), the pair will be visible in the morning sky. They will become accessible at around 01:53, when they rise 7° above your south-eastern horizon. They will then reach its highest point in the sky at 05:09, 20° above your southern horizon. They will be lost to dawn twilight at around 06:26, 18° above your southern horizon.
At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -12.0, and Mars at mag -0.1, both in the constellation Libra.
The pair will be too widely separated to fit within the field of view of a telescope, but will be visible to the naked eye or through a pair of binoculars.
The precise positions of the Moon and Mars at the moment of closest approach will be as follows:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude | Angular Size |
| The Moon | 15h45m50s | -14°54' | Libra | -12.0 | 29'45"3 |
| Mars | 15h43m10s | -18°22' | Libra | -0.1 | 8"6 |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0. The pair will be at an angular separation of 102° from the Sun, which is in Aquarius at this time of year.
The details of this observing event were provided courtesy of In-The-Sky.org
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