Mars "peeps out" from behind the moon (3 photos)

An impressive new image captures the moment when during the recent eclipse, tiny and extraordinarily bright Mars rose due to the cratered surface of the moon.





The red planet was temporarily hidden from the Earth passing by the Moon during an event known as a lunar eclipse, which takes place about twice a year and lasts about an hour. However eclipse 7 December turned out to be especially dramatic, because Mars was in opposition, which means that the Earth was right between him and The sun, which makes the planet unusually bright in the night sky.

The new image was taken by a professional astrophotographer and resident of Arizona, USA, Andrew McCarthy, who shared a stunning snap on Twitter.

“This is the moment when Mars peeked out from behind our moon,” wrote McCarthy. — Observation of another planet rising above the horizon our moon, was such a surreal experience."



Mars' unusual brightness meant recent eclipse was good visible from the surface of the Earth, and many people took photographs and videos the disappearance or appearance of the Red Planet because of the Moon. However “making detailed photographs of this event was a real test," McCarthy said.

To get his hyper-detailed image, McCarthy used a technique of astrophotography known as "lucky Image, which involves quickly capturing tens, hundreds, or thousands of photos and overlay the best of them on top of each other to formation of a single detailed image. Because of the speed of the movement of the moon, McCarthy had a window of only 10 seconds to avoid blurring the lunar surface in the final photo. Behind in that short time he made about 2,000 individual shots.

“Overall this is one of the most difficult shots I have ever taken. did,” McCarthy said. But it's also "one of my favorite moments since ever since I started this hobby."



We add that on November 16, the unmanned Orion capsule from the NASA mission Artemis 1 took a similar image of the Earth disappearing behind the moon surface when the spacecraft flew past the Moon and reached orbit around the satellite.