In Boston and surrounding towns, this phenomenon will occur between 9:26 p.m. and 10:42 p.m. (disappearance and reappearance times). While it will be easy to see the moon and Mars early in the evening with the naked eye, watching the actual occultation will require a bit of hardware, say binoculars or a telescope.

A brightly lit Mars could be seen passing behind the full moon during a rare lunar occultation on Monday, January 13, footage captured in San Francisco shows. NASA defines an occultation as when one celestial object passes directly in front of another.