On the night of April 26, a particularly beautiful combination will be observed in the night sky – MTI reported on the announcement of the Svábhegy Star Observatory.
After 11:00 p.m. on Friday, the Moon will be in a close conjunction of 36 arcseconds with the brightest star of Scorpius, the 1st magnitude red supergiant, the star Antares, the Svábhegy Observatory reports in its announcement.
To observe the special moonrise, you need an open and clear horizon. At such an observation point, even with a simple hand-held telescope, the proximity of Antares near the horizon, shining in all the colors of the rainbow, and the reddish-colored, flattened lunar disk due to atmospheric refraction will provide a special sight.
According to the information, the star Antares will rise in Budapest at 11:00 p.m. in the southeast, and the nearly full moon will follow in about 5 minutes, so it will be easy to observe with the naked eye around midnight.
Another interesting feature of the conjunction is that, while from Hungary it appears to be only a close approximation, in the more eastern regions of the Earth, the Moon will also cover the star Antares.
The star Antares and the surrounding planets. (Photo: VW Pics / Getty Images Hungary)
The star Antares
Because of its reddish color, Antares is often mistaken for the planet Mars – hence its name of Greek origin: Anti-Árés, i.e. Ellen-Mars. Antares can flicker in all kinds of other colors near the horizon, but it only appears that way because of the refracting effect of the Earth’s atmosphere. The celestial body is also special from an astrophysical point of view: it is a huge red giant star with a diameter 800 times that of the Sun.
(MTI)
(Cover image: The star Antares. Photo: VW Pics/Getty)
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