Conjunction between the Moon and Mars
2018 Oct 18
Dominic Ford – originally published on In-The-Sky.org
The Moon and Mars will make a close approach, passing within 1°54' 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 evening sky. They will become visible at around 18:21 (BST) as the dusk sky fades, 14° above your south-eastern horizon. They will then reach its highest point in the sky at 20:19, 18° above your southern horizon. They will continue to be observable until around 23:27, when they sink to 7° above your south-western horizon.
At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -12.1, and Mars at mag -1.4, both in the constellation Capricornus.
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 | 21h06m20s | -17°40' | Capricornus | -12.1 | 29'34"1 |
| Mars | 21h07m50s | -19°32' | Capricornus | -1.4 | 13"4 |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0. The pair will be at an angular separation of 108° from the Sun, which is in Virgo at this time of year.
The details of this observing event were provided courtesy of In-The-Sky.org
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