Mars will disappear from the sky for a few weeks on Saturday (Nov. 18), moving to the opposite side of the sun as seen from Earth during the Red Planet’s period of solar conjunction.
In a celestial spectacle that occurs every two years, Mars has seemingly disappeared from our Earthly vantage point as it undergoes the Mars solar conjunction, starting on November 18. This disappearance is not an unexpected event, an optical illusion or an atmospheric anomaly and there is some science behind the absence of the Red Planet.
A planetary alignment positioned Mars directly behind the Sun, rendering it temporarily invisible to observers on Earth. During this phase, Mars is obscured from view due to the Sun's overwhelming brightness. In a celestial spectacle that occurs every two years, Mars has seemingly disappeared from our Earthly vantage point as it undergoes the Mars solar conjunction, starting on November 18. This disappearance is not an unexpected event, an optical illusion or an atmospheric anomaly and there is some science behind the absence of the Red Planet.
A planetary alignment positioned Mars directly behind the Sun, rendering it temporarily invisible to observers on Earth. During this phase, Mars is obscured from view due to the Sun's overwhelming brightness.