[meteorite-list] Don't miss this: Lunar "Collision" with Mars

Fri Dec 21 23:54:04 EST 2007

Hola Listees,

A couple of you asked me about the Rudolph comment I made for Christmas Eve 
sight involving Mars.  It is fairly well covered in some places, but I 
thought it wouild be a good idea to post it for us.  What could be better 
for Christmas than a Lunar collision with Mars???  That's exactly what will 
happen in the celestial sphere for some lucky earthlings.

Basically we have a situation of a Full Moon which will brush Mars to within 
a single Lunar diameter if you catch it right on the night of December 
23/24.  That's just one night and it is the night before Christmas Eve - NOT 
Christmas Eve.  Still, on Christmas Eve, the Moon and Mars will be within a 
Lunar diameter or two (CLOSE!) and a sight to behold.

As a matter of fact, certain list members will be able to see the Moon 
occult (="eclipse") Mars, from NW Oregon, Washington State, Alaska, BC, 
Alberta, N. Scotland, Northern and Central Europe to the Northern Near East.

Those living near the "edge" of visibility will clearly see the Moon get a 
RED NOSE on the night before Christmas Eve.  Must be Rudolph gathering all 
those Lunars for Santa...(Not only that - if you really know what you are 
doing you can watch Mars dim and brighten as it grazes the Lunar topography 
along the "grazing path" (usually a few kilometers wide) from Earth's 
viewpoint.

Considering Mars just happens to be at opposition on the same day - i.e., as 
close as it gets every two years plus,  Mars will be uncharacteristically 
bright, which you can go out and confirm right now, even under the bright 
Moonlight.  Really it is a special astronomical event not to miss.

The following are great Maps of (1) Europe and (2) North America showing the 
line of the grazing touch, and to the North of that line there will be 
occultation.  To the South a great proximity show.  I've also prepared a 
table for some key cities in LOCAL TIME below to save you the trouble of 
looking for the information on the reference link below the times..  For 
those comfortable with Universal (London) time, the event happens between 
1:30 AM and 3:00 AM on the morning of December 24 in North America and 
between 3:00 AM and 4:30 AM on the morning of Deember 24 in Europe.  Those 
are rough times and you need to know it precisly if you want to see the 
movie well.  Other references to read more follow the LOCAL times.

Grazing paths:
(All Europe and near east)
http://www.dangl.at/maps/2007/gr071224/g071224e.htm

(North America)
http://www.curtrenz.com/astro4.html

Times
North America is on DEC. 23 PM
LOCAL TIME
City             Duration Begin End
Alaska Anchorage   47min  16:52 17:39
Alaska Fairbanks   48min  16:55 17:43
Alaska Juneau      45min  16:45 17:30
Alberta Calgary    11min  18:50 19:01
Alberta Edmonton   23min  18:47 19:10
Washington Seattle 17min  17:42 18:00
Washington Tacoma  16min  17:43 17:58

Europe + Near East is on DEC. 24 AM
LOCAL TIME
City           Duration Begin End
Austria  Graz      5min 5:02 5:08
Austria  Vienna   19min 4:54 5:12
Belorus  Minsk    43min 5:33 6:16
Bulgaria Sofia    12min 6:06 6:18
Czech    Prague   22min 4:49 5:11
Denmark  Aalborg  36min 4:29 5:05
Denmark  Copenhagn35min 4:33 5:08
Estonia  Tartu    46min 5:25 6:11
Finland  Helsinki 47min 5:21 6:09
Finland  Vaasa    49min 5:16 6:04
Georgia  Tbilisi  39min 7:47 8:26
Germany  Berlin   28min 4:42 5:10
Germany  Dresden  25min 4:46 5:10
Germany  Hamburg  26min 4:40 5:06
Germany  Hannover 21min 4:45 5:05
Germany  Leipzig  23min 4:46 5:09
Hungary  Budapest 23min 4:53 5:16
Latvia   Riga     44min 5:28 6:12
Lietuva  Vilnius  43min 5:32 6:15
Norway   Bergen   38min 4:21 4:59
Norway   Mosjoen  49min 4:09 4:58
Norway   Oslo     42min 4:21 5:03
Russia   St Pete  48min 6:21 7:10
Poland   Gdansk   38min 4:35 5:13
Poland   Krakow   31min 4:45 5:16
Poland   Warsaw   37min 4:39 5:16
Romania  Bucharest26min 5:56 6:22
Romania  Cluj-Nap 28min 5:52 6:20
Russia   Moscow    47min 6:28 7:15
Russia   Saratov   46min 6:32 7:18
Serbia   Belgrade  14min 5:02 5:16
Sweden   Gothenburg39min 4:27 5:06
Sweden   Stockholm 44min 4:23 5:08
Turkey   Istanbul  21min 6:03 6:24
UK       Aberdeen  15min 3:34 3:49
Ukraine  Kiev      41min 5:40 6:20
Ukraine  Odessa    36min 5:48 6:23

Times based on:
http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/planets/1224mars.htm

Astronomy Articles:
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/071221-ns-mars-moon.html
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=6408

Best wishes,Life,
Doug 