Conjunction between the Moon and Mars
2016 Mar 28
Dominic Ford – originally published on In-The-Sky.org
The Moon and Mars will make a close approach, passing within 4°08' of each other.
From London (click to change), the pair will be difficult to observe as they will appear no higher than 18° above the horizon. They will be visible in the morning sky. They will become accessible at around 01:56, when they rise 7° above your south-eastern horizon. They will then reach its highest point in the sky at 04:55, 18° above your southern horizon. They will be lost to dawn twilight at around 06:23, 15° above your southern horizon.
At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -12.3, and Mars at mag -0.8, both in the constellation Scorpius.
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 | 16h21m40s | -16°21' | Scorpius | -12.3 | 29'44"2 |
| Mars | 16h19m10s | -20°27' | Scorpius | -0.8 | 11"4 |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0. The pair will be at an angular separation of 121° from the Sun, which is in Pisces at this time of year.
The details of this observing event were provided courtesy of In-The-Sky.org
.