Did you see the full “Wolf Moon” eat Mars? The first full moon of 2025 rose on Monday, Jan. 13 and, for observers in North America, blocked the planet Mars for around an hour between 8:44 p.m. EST and 00:52 a.m. EST on Tuesday, Jan. 14.
Remarkably, the rare event—called an occultation by astronomers—occurred just as Mars reached its closest to Earth since December 2022. On Wednesday, Jan. 15, the red planet will reach opposition, something that occurs once every 26 months as Earth passes between Mars and the sun.
The opposition of Mars is the only time 100% of the planet’s disk is lit up by the sun, meaning a “full Mars” was visible close to the full moon during the rare occultation. It was seen disappearing (ingress) and then appearing again (egress) from across North America while in the constellation Gemini.
Mars appeared fully illuminated and brighter than at any other time since December 2022. At magnitude -1.4, it’s currently one of the brightest objects in the sky—though it’s outshone about 25-to-1 by Venus, which is currently visible in the southwest after sunset, shining at magnitude -4.3.
Despite the spectacular view from Earth, it was all an illusion, a line-of-sight phenomenon caused by the moon crossing the ecliptic—the path of all the planets through the night sky—to hide the red planet from view.
At the time of the occultation, Mars was 59.7 million miles (96.1 million kilometers) away from Earth, while the moon was 224,000 miles (360,000 kilometers) distant. That made Mars roughly 266 times farther than the moon. For perspective, if the moon were a one-hour car drive away, Mars would be like driving for nearly 11 days nonstop at highway speeds.
Despite its relatively far distance, Mars will remain a prominent feature in the night sky throughout January and February.
Earlier on Monday, the almost full moon had been seen rising in the east, with Mars just below and to the left. Above Mars were two bright stars—Pollux and Castor in Gemini.
January’s full moon is named the Wolf Moon, but it’s also known as the Stay Home Moon, Quiet Moon, and Severe Moon. The next full moon, the Snow Moon, will occur on Feb. 12 at 13:52 UTC/8:52 a.m. EST. It will be the second full moon of winter and will shine brightly against a backdrop of stars in the constellation Leo.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
