Poster production: Feng Juan
Xinhua News Agency, Tianjin, April 4 (Reporter Zhou Runjian) Astronomy science experts introduced that on the morning of April 5, Mars "joined" Saturn, and from the earth, the two are very close.
As long as the weather is clear and the atmospheric transparency is good, in places with a wide field of vision, interested public can choose the "conjunctive day" and two days before and after, about an hour before sunrise, with the naked eye or with the help of binoculars. Twin Heroes".
Mars is the first planet outside the earth's orbit, and its color is red. Because of its glowing like fire, its orbit is confusing. In ancient China, it was called "Yinghuo", while in the West, it was called by the name of the god of war "Mars" in mythology. ; Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system. Because of its majestic and beautiful rings, it is known as the "Lord of the Rings".
This is Venus, Mars, Saturn and the waning moon shot in Beijing on the early morning of March 28, 2022 by Beijing astronomy enthusiast Wu Luping.
(Picture provided by myself)
At the end of March this year, Venus, Mars and Saturn came together in the low southeast sky in the early morning; by the beginning of April, Venus was moving away, and Mars and Saturn were getting closer.
This is Venus, Mars, Saturn and the waning moon shot by Tianjin astronomer Yang Jing in the early morning of March 28, 2022 in Tianjin.
(Picture provided by myself)
According to Xiu Lipeng, director of the Tianjin Astronomical Society and an astronomical science expert, at 6:5 a.m. on April 5, Mars "joined" Saturn, with Saturn above and Mars below.
This "conjunction" is extremely close to each other, and the closest angular distance is only 20 arc minutes, which is equivalent to two-thirds of the apparent diameter of the full moon, which can be called "intimacy."
Comic production: Hu Yanzhu
It is understood that planetary "conjunctions" are not as common as moon-planet "conjunctions".
Whenever planets come close to each other, it means there is an opportunity to see two or more planets "in the same frame" in a small area of the sky at the same time with the naked eye or a telescope.
Xiu Lipeng said that Mars is the nearest neighbor of the earth, and it is also the planet that humans pay the most attention to.
Up to now, humans have successively launched dozens of probes to Mars, including China's "Tianwen-1".
After disappearing for more than half a year, at the end of November last year, Mars returned to human vision.
Compared with that time, Mars is closer to the earth at this time, and its brightness has also increased a lot, about 1 magnitude, while the brightness of Saturn is 0.9 magnitude, and the brightness of the two is about the same.
This is a close-up (imposition) of Saturn and Mars taken by Zong Haiyang, an astronomer from Beijing.
(Picture provided by myself)
"Two planets so close together are rare and well worth observing. If the timing is right and the weather is fine, interested members of the public can see them with the naked eye. Of course, it's best to use binoculars when viewing, not only will there be ' The same frame' effect, and the color contrast of the two stars is also very interesting, Mars is red, Saturn is yellow and white." Xiu Lipeng said.
It is understood that the next Mars "conjunction" with Saturn will occur on April 11, 2024.