Conjunction between the Moon and Mars
2016 Apr 25
Dominic Ford – originally published on In-The-Sky.org
The Moon and Mars will make a close approach, passing within 4°52' of each other.
From London (click to change), the pair will be difficult to observe as they will appear no higher than 16° above the horizon. They will be visible in the morning sky. They will become accessible at around 00:22, when they rise 7° above your south-eastern horizon. They will then reach its highest point in the sky at 03:12, 16° above your southern horizon. They will be lost to dawn twilight at around 05:19, 11° above your south-western horizon.
At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -12.4, and Mars at mag -1.5, both in the constellation Ophiuchus.
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 | 16h29m00s | -16°42' | Ophiuchus | -12.4 | 29'41"8 |
| Mars | 16h26m10s | -21°32' | Ophiuchus | -1.5 | 15"2 |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0. The pair will be at an angular separation of 146° from the Sun, which is in Aries at this time of year.
The details of this observing event were provided courtesy of In-The-Sky.org
.