China News Agency, Nanjing, September 14 (Reporter Yang Yanci) According to the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on the 14th, Neptune, known as the "planet on the pen tip", launched a opposition to the sun that day.
The most distant "mysterious planet" in the solar system will open the viewing window, which rarely reveals its true face.
Neptune is the farthest one of the eight planets in the solar system from the sun and the latest one to be discovered.
Because Neptune is far away from the earth and does not emit light, it cannot be directly observed by the naked eye.
Only during the opposition period is the best time to observe Neptune in a year.
At 17:21 on the 14th, Beijing time, Neptune arrived at the "offset" position, that is, with the earth as the center, the sun and Neptune are located on both sides of the earth, and the ecliptic longitude is 180 degrees apart.
At this time, Neptune is closest to the Earth, has the largest apparent diameter, the brightest, and is visible all night.
After the sun sets, Neptune will rise from the eastern horizon.
In a geographical location with clear weather, if the atmosphere is transparent, the interested public can use astronomical telescopes and star map software to find this mysterious blue planet.
Experts remind that although Neptune is the fourth-largest planet in the solar system, it is about 4.35 billion kilometers away from the earth, which is very far away.
Therefore, in a high-power telescope, Neptune is still a blue "little star", and it is difficult to observe the details of its surface.
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