--- title: Watch a Star Disappear Behind the Moon on Tuesday description: The moon will pass in front of the red-giant star Aldebaran canonical: https://time.com/4185018/watch-star-disappear-moon/ author: Tara John article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-19T16:07:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:14:31.285Z article:section: Science og:title: Watch a Star Disappear Behind the Moon on Tuesday og:description: The moon will pass in front of the red-giant star Aldebaran og:url: https://time.com/4185018/watch-star-disappear-moon/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fd2014133d2cd75/6988798dcd1bba61836fefe3/lunar-occultation-venus-washington-dc-2015.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Lunar Occultation of Venus og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch a Star Disappear Behind the Moon on Tuesday twitter:description: The moon will pass in front of the red-giant star Aldebaran twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fd2014133d2cd75/6988798dcd1bba61836fefe3/lunar-occultation-venus-washington-dc-2015.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch a Star Disappear Behind the Moon on Tuesday by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Jan 19, 2016 4:07 PM CUT  Venus is seen next to the crescent moon during the daytime, prior to the start of occultation in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 7, 2015\. The moon had occulted, or passed in front of, Venus for the second time that year. Venus is seen next to the crescent moon during the daytime, prior to the start of occultation in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 7, 2015\. The moon had occulted, or passed in front of, Venus for the second time that year.Joel Kowsky—NASA by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Jan 19, 2016 4:07 PM CUT As the moon [orbits the Earth](http://time.com/space-nasa-scott-kelly-mission/ "undefined") on Tuesday evening, it will [pass in front of a bright star and block its light](http://www.space.com/31609-moon-block-star-aldebaran-tuesday.html?cmpid=514648%5F20160119%5F57305206&adbid=689288681077653504&adbpl=tw&adbpr=15431856 "undefined"), an event known as a lunar occultation. The majority of stars the moon eclipses are faint and only visible by telescope, but Tuesday night’s orbit will see the moon pass in front of the red-giant star Aldebaran, which will be visible to observers all over North America, Hawaii and western Europe, according to [Space.com](http://www.space.com/ "undefined"), which offers viewing advice. When stars pass behind the moon they appear to wink out instantaneously like a light switch because the moon has no significant atmosphere. Other bright stars include Regulus, Spica and Antares. Like Aldebaran— which is part of the constellation Taurus— lunar occultations of those stars can be observed with the unaided eye. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4185018/watch-star-disappear-moon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4185018/watch-star-disappear-moon/"},"headline":"Watch a Star Disappear Behind the Moon on Tuesday","datePublished":"2016-01-19T16:07:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:14:31.285Z","description":"The moon will pass in front of the red-giant star Aldebaran","url":"https://time.com/4185018/watch-star-disappear-moon/","keywords":["Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fd2014133d2cd75/6988798dcd1bba61836fefe3/lunar-occultation-venus-washington-dc-2015.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fd2014133d2cd75/6988798dcd1bba61836fefe3/lunar-occultation-venus-washington-dc-2015.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Lunar Occultation of Venus","caption":"Venus is seen next to the crescent moon during the daytime, prior to the start of occultation in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 7, 2015. The moon had occulted, or passed in front of, Venus for the second time that year.","creditText":"Joel Kowsky—NASA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4185018/watch-star-disappear-moon/","name":"Watch a Star Disappear Behind the Moon on Tuesday"}}]}] ```