Mangaluru: The celestial event of the Moon occulting Mars was observed and captured from the CFAL Observatory here on Saturday, April 17.

Astro-enthusiasts at CFAL were ecstatic as they observed the crescent moon pass directly between Earth and Mars, resulting in a remarkable occultation. Such occultations have occurred in recent months, but they could be seen only from some areas.

However, the phenomenon was visible from all over India on Saturday.

In February, Dr. Prajval Shastri, a well-known astrophysicist from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, inaugurated the Telescope Observatory and Astrophysics Club at CFAL with the aim of promoting amateur astronomy through talks, lectures, observations, and discussions. The ZWO ASI290MC planetary camera is mounted to an Explore Scientific ED127 telescope with a 2X Barlow.

Evening and night sky observations are also conducted on a daily basis by the club. Students at the Observatory observed the Lunar Occultation of Mars in real-time through the 10-inch GoToDobsonian telescope and took photos with their cell phones.