However, the seventh planet in the solar system can only be seen in a telescope. Tomorrow morning around 8 o’clock the moon moves in front of Uranus. But then only the moon can be seen in the bright daytime sky. During September and December, Uranus occultations occur during the night.
As the moon orbits the earth, it repeatedly passes in front of bright stars and the planets. Since the moon’s orbit changes its position in the sky a little every 18 years, some objects have a “season” every now and then. This year, the moon passes in front of Uranus and Mars more often. On the morning of December 8th it will be spectacular.
Then the full moon moves in front of the planet Mars, which is then exactly in the best position for two years and shines particularly brightly. This celestial coincidence is reminiscent of 2018, when Mars stood in opposition close to the eclipsed Full Moon.
While a star is always just a point in the sky and therefore suddenly disappears behind the moon, in the case of Uranus it takes about seven seconds until the moon has completely covered the small planet disc. For Mars, which appears much larger in the sky, it takes half a minute in December before it disappears behind the moon – and with a bit of luck this can even be seen with the naked eye.