Conjunction between the Moon and Mars
2017 Nov 15
Dominic Ford – originally published on In-The-Sky.org
The Moon and Mars will make a close approach, passing within 3°00' of each other.
From London (click to change), the pair will be visible in the dawn sky. They will rise at 03:37 (BST), 3 hours and 40 minutes before the Sun, and attain an altitude of 25° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 06:52.
At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -10.2, and Mars at mag 1.5, both in the constellation Virgo.
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 | 12h59m00s | -01°51' | Virgo | -10.2 | 30'26"0 |
| Mars | 12h55m00s | -04°41' | Virgo | 1.5 | 4"0 |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0. The pair will be at an angular separation of 38° from the Sun, which is in Libra at this time of year.
The details of this observing event were provided courtesy of In-The-Sky.org
.