by 
(opens in a new tab)
An impressive new image has captured the moment a tiny and unusually vibrant Mars rose from behind the moon’s crater-covered surface during a recent eclipse.
The red planet has been temporarily obscured from Earth’s view by the passing moon in an event known as a lunar occultation, which occurs about twice a year and lasts about an hour. However, the December 7 eclipse was particularly dramatic because Mars was in opposition, meaning Earth was directly between it and the sun, making the planet appear unusually bright in the night sky. according to the Live Science sister site. Space.com (opens in a new tab).
The new image was captured by a professional astrophotographer and resident of Arizona Andrew McCarthy (opens in a new tab)who shared the stunning snap on Twitter (opens in a new tab).
“This is when Mars peeked behind our moon,” McCarthy wrote. “Seeing another planet rise above the horizon of our moon was such a surreal experience.”
Related: Mars could slowly tear apart its largest moon (opens in a new tab)
(opens in a new tab)
The unusual brightness of Mars meant the recent eclipse was clearly visible from Earth’s surface, and many people took photos and videos of the disappearance of the red planet or reappear behind the moon. However, “capturing a detailed photo of this event was a real challenge,” McCarthy told Live Science.
To acquire his ultra-detailed image, McCarthy used an astrophotography technique known as “lucky imaging,” which involves taking quick bursts of tens, hundreds, or thousands of photos and stacking the best ones. on top of each other to form a single detailed image. . Due to the speed of the moon’s motion, McCarthy had a window of only 10 seconds to take his images to prevent the lunar surface from becoming blurry in the final photo. During this brief window, it took around 2,000 individual images.
“Overall, this is one of the toughest shots I’ve ever captured,” McCarthy said. But it’s also “one of my favorite moments since starting this hobby”.
On November 16, the unmanned Orion capsule of NASA’s Artemis I mission captured a similar image of Earth disappears behind the lunar surface (opens in a new tab) as the spacecraft flew over the moon and into orbit around the satellite.
In September, McCarthy also captured a stunning time-lapse image 1 million miles long (1.6 million kilometers) plasma plume emerging from the surface of the sun (opens in a new tab) during a coronal mass ejection.
Originally published on LiveScience.com (opens in a new tab).
