Lunar Occultation of Mars, January 13, 2025

By Chris Predom

These pictures show my journey of the Mars Moon occultation. All photos and the movie were taken with my iPhone. They start with a wide view of the Moon, Mars, Castor and Pollux. Next are images through my 8-inch f 4.5 Coulter dob.  I used my 35mm Tuthill Plossl, my 17mm Televue Plossl and my Astrotech 100-degree 9mm eyepiece. While viewing the Moon Mars gap close, I took many photos by holding the iPhone to the eyepieces. As the disappearance neared, I just observed the event while it took several seconds for Mars to sink behind the Moon. It was fun to watch it slowly sink.

Next was the reappearance. I decided to try making a movie of it with the iPhone. Some quick tests before Mars appeared showed it could be done. I managed to catch the reappearance, until I lost my distance holding the phone to the eyepiece. I was happy with what I obtained, plus I still got a chance to watch Mars reappear on my iPhone screen. This video is in real time: As the movie plays, that is how I saw the event.

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By Michael Amato

My brother Anthony and I observed the occultation of the Moon and Mars, he from where he lives in Allingtown and I from my location three miles away. My brother took this image of the Moon and Mars with our Unistellar go-to scope while he enjoyed the occultation. Mars is the dot just below and left of the small crater at the bottom left of the Moon. At my place, I started to track the Moon closing in on Mars at about 8:50 pm with my 5.1-inch Short Tube Newtonian Richfield Scope. I was able to follow the little Mars disc slowly come near and get occulted by the full Moon. It was amazing watching Mars getting covered by the Moon. This is the first of many projects Anthony and I plan to do together.