China News Service, Guangzhou, April 1 (Guo Jun and Li Jianji) According to the Guangzhou Wuyang Planetarium on the 1st, there will be a celestial spectacle of Mars meeting Saturn on April 5 this year. The shortest distance in the past 44 years.

If the sky is clear, it can be seen not only all over China, but almost all over the world (except the Arctic).

　　Astronomy experts said that recently, Mars and Saturn are both located in Capricornus, and Mars is chasing Saturn from west to east.

On April 4, Mars will appear to the southwest of Saturn, and the two will be 0.9 degrees apart; at 6:00 on April 5, Mars will catch up with Saturn, and the two will be on the same longitude, and the two will be 0.3 degrees apart.

But this is not the shortest distance between the two. According to theoretical calculations, Mars and Saturn will be the closest in a few hours.

A round full moon has an apparent diameter of about 0.5 degrees, and if the full moon passes in front of Mars and Saturn, it can obscure both of them.

On April 6, Mars will be southeast of Saturn, 0.6 degrees apart.

　　Saturn and Mars are so close together that experts say they can be distinguished in three ways.

First, in terms of apparent brightness, Saturn is slightly brighter than Mars. The apparent magnitudes of the two are 0.9 for Saturn and 1.0 for Mars, and the apparent brightness is similar to Antares in Scorpio (0.96 apparent magnitude).

The smaller the number, the brighter.

Second, in terms of orientation, Mars is to the south of Saturn; third, in terms of color, Mars is orange-red and Saturn is yellow-white.

　　Experts explained that the fact that Mars and Saturn are so close is due to the visual phenomenon that occurs when the Earth, Mars and Saturn are arranged in an approximately straight line during the movement.

In fact, Mars and Saturn are about 1.2 billion kilometers apart, which is equivalent to about 8 Earth-sun distances.

On April 5, a schematic diagram of the arrangement of Earth, Mars and Saturn in an approximate straight line, drawn by Li Desheng

　　When is the best time to observe Mars and Saturn at a close encounter?

The best observation time in various places is 70 minutes before sunrise, and the observation orientation is at a low altitude in the south-east.

At that time, Venus is the morning star, very bright, with an apparent brightness of minus 4.4 magnitudes.

To the southwest of Venus (upper right), Saturn and Mars can be found.

On April 5, the sunrise time in Guangzhou is 6:16, that is, the best observation time in Guangzhou is around 5:06.

It's even better if viewed with binoculars.

(over)