In the early hours of next Thursday Mars will disappear completely behind the full moon, in an event known as an “occultation”.
And on Wednesday, the moon will move closer to Mars in the night sky, until the expected phenomenon begins to occur at 4:30 on Thursday, GMT, according to the English newspaper “Daily Mail”.
At around 4:58 GMT, Mars will disappear behind the western half of the moon and reappear about an hour later behind the eastern edge.
The disappearance will be visible across northern Europe, Greenland and North America, as well as the tip of northern Africa.
Those wishing to follow the astronomical event can look up the local time online, as the number of hours may vary from country to country.
The event can be seen with the naked eye, especially since Mars will be at its brightest after passing close to Earth on December 1.
