This come up Monday ( January 13 ) , grab your scope , layer up in every piece of clothing you own , and lead outdoors . Why ? Because it ’s lunar occultation time , babe – and this metre , it ’s hungry like the wolf .

Okay , there are n’t actually any wolves . It ’s just that it ’s occur when there ’s a Wolf Moon , a non - astronomical terminal figure for the first full Moon of the year . According toNASA , the name has Native American origins , coming from citizenry having hear masher howling in the depths of winter ( thoughit ’s a myththat wolves howl at the Moon ) .

As for the lunar eclipse part , again , there are n’t any supernatural shenanigans going on .   Occult and occultation simply happen tosharea coarse Latin ancestor , the Logos “ occultātiōn ” or “ occultātiō ” , think of hiding or concealment .

Alunar occultationis instead an astronomic event during which the Moon look to pass in front of another object in the sky , temporarily obscuring it from view . That object could be a star or a planet – on January 13 , it ’s going to be Mars .

If you ’re hop to get a glimpse of it , you ’ll first require to ensure you ’re in the veracious place.In-The-Sky.orghas a full list of the locations where the occultation will be visible , but it report much of North America and a decent clump of West Africa .

Even if you ’re not in one of those places , with a clear sky most mass will still be able to see a close conjunction between the Moon and Mats or else . The night sky is nothing if not generous .

As for when to head out , the occultation is expect to begin at about 1:44 am UTC ( 8:44 pm ET ) and wrap up at around 5:52 am UTC ( 12:52 am ET ) .

While the event wo n’t be visible to the nude eye , atelescopewill do the job nicely . Then , all you ’ll need is the clouds to take a break and an idea of when the occultation will be materialize in your specific placement . There ’s not much you’re able to do about the former , but there is at leastsoftwarethat can help you out with the latter .

This is in reality the second lunar occultation of Mars in curt chronological sequence . The last one was in December , but we doubt you ’ll have been specially bother to drop it – it started at 7:47 am UTC ( 2:47 am ET ) , when any reasonable mortal who might ’ve been able to see it would ’ve been pucker up gracious and cozy in bed .