[GCARC] in the sky tonight - 6:12pm ISS then 9:21pm rare Moon occults Mars

[Jim n2gxj]

Hopefully clouds will clear out in time for what SpaceWeather.com is
calling "the must-see backyard astronomy event of 2025 (so far)". If have a
small backyard telescope, this might be fun. This is when the full Moon
will pass directly in front of Mars for a lunar occultation visible across
North America.
There's also a visible pass of the ISS here in NJ a few hours ahead of
that. Of course, you can try to hear the ham radio downlink even if it is
too cloudy to see it, but maybe we'll get lucky and will have a chance to
experience both!
Anyway, if interested, here are the details

ISS visible pass:

~6:12 PM face South.
Dot starts rising from below bright Venus in the SW, crosses sky in front
of you from right to left with maximum height of 60 degrees up from the
horizon in the SE ~6:15, cuts just above bright Jupiter ~6:16, then fades
out as it disappears into the Earth's shadow in the ENE around 6:17 (before
it gets to where the bright Moon is).
Star chart for this pass here
https://www.heavens-above.com/passdetails.aspx?lat=39.7416&lng=-75.0789&loc=NJ_home&alt=45&tz=EST&satid=25544&mjd=60688.9693509795&type=V
Current status of ISS ham radio stations:
https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html )
Tune to 437.800 FM simplex for the downlink, best luck to listen with
squelch on your radio turned to zero (off) when is at max altitude in your
sky. Can adjust frequency as needed for the doppler shift before/after.
With luck, may hear ham contacts in progress.

Moon occults Mars:

~9:21 PM here in NJ, the brilliant edge of the moon will swallow up Mars -
should be able to see this happen in small telescope.  They recommend
starting to watch 10+ minutes in advance, so can find Mars near the bright
moon before the Moon covers it up.
Details for major cities across the USA:
https://www.astroleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/2025-Jan-13-Moon-occults-Mars.pdf

Good luck if try!
Jim