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A rare Mars occultation in Brunei skies

April 18, 2021
Hakim Hayat | Borneo Bulletin

Clear skies in Brunei last night allowed for the easy viewing of a rare Mars occultation in its skies, where the Red Planet disappeared behind the crescent moon.

The phenomenon that happened for about 10 seconds at 9.29pm saw the moon passing in front of Mars creating a lunar occultation visible only from a small region of central Asia including Brunei.

Over 20 members of the Astronomical Society of Brunei Darussalam (PABD), armed with telescopes, binoculars and cameras took part in a viewing at the beach front of The Empire Brunei in Jerudong last night.

Photo shows a rare Mars occultation visible in the Brunei sky last night where the Red Planet disappeared behind the crescent moon. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD HIDAYATULLAH AHMAD, PABD

According to executive committee member of PABD Nurbazilah binti Zainal Abidin, the phenomenon is rare because it will only be visible in Brunei in the next 77 years.

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Rare Mars Occultation on Apr 17, 2021

Bandar Seri Begawan – Given clear skies, stargazers in Brunei can watch the red planet Mars disappear behind the crescent moon on Saturday night, April 17, 2021.

Watch Mars disappear behind the moon on Saturday, April 17, 2021

The Moon will pass in front of Mars, creating a lunar occultation visible from only small region of central Asia including Brunei Darussalam.

An occultation is an astronomical phenomenon when one object is obscured by another object that passes between it and the observer.

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2021 Mar 02 Mars Closes the Pleiades Star Cluster

Bandar Seri Begawan – A beautiful celestial parings of Mars closes approach with the Pleiades star cluster is set for this week.

The famous star cluster, also known as “Bintang Tujuh”, is a group of about 800 stars located 410 light-years away in the constellation Taurus.

A spectacular view of Mars embraces the Seven Sisters Star Cluster. Photographed by Hj Md Azri bin Haji Ibrahim, PABD

Look Northwest at dusk and throughout the evening to see the cosmic duo progress to setting in the West (at around 10.30 pm Brunei Time).

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2020 October 21 How big are the Planets?

Tutong – Mars, Saturn and Jupiter have reached opposition and shine extra bright in the evening sky in October 2020.

How large the planets appear in the sky, as seen through a telescope? This photograph of the planets taken last night shows the actual apparent size for comparison, measured in arcseconds (“).

The evening planets – Mars, Saturn and Jupiter on October 21, 2020 and their apparent angular size for comparison (Photographed by Hazarry Hj Ali Ahmad of PABD)
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2020 Oct 18 Planet Mars at Post-Opposition

A close-up view of Mars from Brunei Darussalam tonight, October 18, 2020 – after a week from opposition and closest to Earth, the red planet is still best viewable in the night sky.

One of the prominent low albedo (dark) feature is Syrtis Major Planum, clearly visible on this photograph. Albedo is a measure of how much light something reflects.

The Martian albedo are the light (high albedo) and dark (low albedo) features can be seen on the planet Mars (Photo by Hazarry bin Haji Ali Ahmad, the Astronomical Society of Brunei Darussalam)
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Planets Gatherings Join the Moon from March 18 until 21, 2020

Bandar Seri Begawan – These are some of exciting and not to be missed cosmic events visible in Brunei to look up next week.

March 18 until March 20, 2020: Three bright planets – Mars, Jupiter and Saturn- will join the crescent moon to form a cosmic cluster in the Eastern sky at dawn from Brunei Darussalam.

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NASA Invites Public to Submit Names to Fly Aboard Next Mars Rover

NASA – Although it will be years before the first humans set foot on Mars, NASA is giving the public an opportunity to send their names β€” stenciled on chips β€” to the Red Planet with NASA’s Mars 2020 rover, which represents the initial leg of humanity’s first round trip to another planet. The rover is scheduled to launch as early as July 2020, with the spacecraft expected to touch down on Mars in February 2021.

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