On Friday, April 26, at 11 p.m., the Moon enters a close conjunction with the brightest celestial body in Scorpio for 36 arcseconds. with the star Antares, which is a red supergiant of magnitude 1, writes MTI based on the announcement of the Svábhegyi observatory.
The star rises in the southeast, followed by the 91 percent phase full moon at 11:05 p.m.
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Observing the conjunction primarily requires an open and clear horizon, although even here you may need a simple hand-held telescope to see the peculiarity. THE during moonrise, the near-horizon Antares will shine in all the colors of the rainbow, and this is only enhanced by the proximity of the reddish-colored, flattened lunar disk due to atmospheric refraction.
The celestial pair will be visible to the naked eye around midnight.
The phenomenon is not only observed in Hungary. In the eastern regions of the Earth, the Moon even covers the star Antares.
However, the star should not be confused with the planet Mars, which also has a red color. Antares can flicker in many colors near the horizon, but this is caused only by the refracting effect of the Earth’s atmosphere, while the color is constant in the case of Mars.
Another special feature of the celestial body is that its diameter is 800 times larger than that of the Sun.
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