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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Mars occultation or close approach tonight
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2023 Jan 30, 20:18 -0800
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2023 Jan 30, 20:18 -0800
Anyone watching?? I checked at 6:00pm (Eastern US time)... At that time, the distance from Mars to the center of the Moon was just about 2.5° by visual estimate, counting Moon diameters. And now, at 11:00pm (EST), it's about 1°. Hmm... five hours elapsed, but the distance has changed by only 1.5°. We know that lunar distances change at a rate of just about 0.5° --that's one average apparent lunar diameter in one hour. Not even close! So what's going on?? Why is the lunar distance changing at the "wrong" rate?
Frank Reed
PS: The image of Mars is just for fun!
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