On June 3, a particularly beautiful, rare conjunction visible to the naked eye can be observed in the night sky, during which the full moon comes close to the brightest star of the constellation Scorpio, the red-glowing Antares.
In its announcement, the Svábhegyi Csillagvizsgáló (Svábhegyi Observatory) wrote: Antares is one of the brightest and most beautifully colored stars in the summer sky, the brightest member of the Scorpio constellation. A red supergiant star that is massive in size, nearly 700 times the diameter of the Sun and 12 times more massive.
On June 3, the edge of the full moon and Antares will be very close in the night sky. The diameter of the Moon is 30 arc minutes, while their distance around midnight will be only 19 arc minutes, which is very rare. Although the two celestial bodies will appear close to each other to the naked eye, in reality, the star is 13 billion times farther from Earth than it is from the Moon.
According to the statement, the interplay of colors will also be impressive: the sharp contrast between the bluish-white-silver glow of the Moon and the rich, deep red color of Antares creates an interesting visual interplay.
The pair will be visible almost all night, appearing above the southeastern horizon shortly after sunset and disappearing in the southwestern sky around 4:30 am.
On this occasion, the Svábhegyi Observatory offers interactive programs and numerous telescopes to visitors, who will be able to examine the star spectrum of Antares in addition to the ray craters of the full moon, as well as admire the red disk of the rising moon.
In addition to observing the spectacular togetherness, the organizers are preparing a number of interactive family programs. Teachers who come to the event on the occasion of Teachers’ Day on Friday can visit the event for free.
(MTI)
Photo: Svábhegyi Csillagvizsgáló
