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The BAA Handbook [1] lists the circumstances of this occultation for Greenwich and Edinburgh, with a and b coefficients for computing the event time from an observer’s location. Accurate predictions for any site can be obtained using Occult software.[2] The 89% illuminated Moon will occult mag. -0.9 Mars at around 09:25 UT on December 18 at a low elevation of about 15 degrees in the WNW (depending on your location in the UK or Ireland).
Disappearance takes place at the bright limb, then Mars will reappear at the dark limb at around 10:15 UT when its elevation will be below 10 degrees. Because Mars presents an apparent diameter of 13.2” both events will have durations of just over 20 seconds. The occultation takes place in daylight, so using a red filter could improve the contrast between the sky and planet.
A challenging occultation.
Times for various locations in the UK and Ireland are given in Table 1 and Figure 1 shows little difference between the observed PA from these sites. Table 2 gives times for other locations across Europe and North Africa. (All data derived using Occult).
[1] 2024 BAA Handbook, Lunar Occultations, pp. 37-39
[2] Occult software https://occultations.org/observing/software/occult/Attachments:
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