January’s full moon, the “Wolf Moon,” rose alongside Mars at its brightest, occulting it for a short period as seen from North America. Here are the best images.

The full moon is called the wolf moon because of the idea that during January’s long, cold and dark nights, wolves make sure everyone can hear them. Like many other moons, it also has other names. Some call it the “Ice Moon,” “Old Moon” or the moon after Yule.

During severe weather and other natural phenomena events that have occurred in the skies above Southwest and Central Virginia in the past weeks, WFXR News has received some spectacular photo submissions from viewers.

The moon performed a cosmic ballet with Mars this week. On Monday evening (Jan. 13), the Full Wolf Moon passed in front of Mars in what's known as a lunar occultation, during which another celestial object appears to disappear behind the moon from our vantage point on Earth.