Eyes on the sky Saturday 5 April among the 21:00 and the 22:00 When the spectacular arrives conjunction between the Moon in the first quarter e Marsthe red planet. The “celestial kiss” between the two stars will be visible to the naked eyeeven in the city, given the apparent high brightness of the two objects and the great height on theWest/south-west horizon at the point of maximum approach, when they find themselves separated from Less than 2nd in heaven. If you are equipped with binoculars, or even better than a small telescope, the event will take on one even greater beauty being able to see both stars at the same time.
What is a conjunction and what time to observe that between Moon and Mars in the sky
The term conjunctionin astronomy, refers to a celestial configuration in which two stars appear separated from a small angular distance in the sky. Saturday 5 April, the Moon at the first quarter (57% of lunar disc lighting) and Mars will be held along the celestial vault for almost all night, from sunset until 3 in the morning.
The conjunction will take place however Between 21:00 and 22:00when the two stars reach the minimum angular distance of 2 ° 06 ‘. They will keep company with the two celestial bodies Castore and Polluxthe two brightest stars of the constellation of the twins, who on that night anticipate the moon and Mars on their path on the celestial vault. The small distance that separates Mars and the Moon, however, is only a projection effect: in reality the Moon and Mars have been extremely different from the earth: the moon to “suns” 380 000 km about, while Mars is currently located at approximately 173 million km from the earth-long system.
Taking as a reference the coordinates of Rome and the time of 9:30 pm, Mars and the Moon will find themselves at about 65 ° in height on the south-west horizonaccompanied to their right by the stars Castore and Polluce dei Gemini. Identifying the moon is quite easy being the object brighter in the sky At that moment, while Mars will find himself alone 2nd from the moon in the lower left. Being both particularly brilliant and high objects on the horizon, the event can be observed to Naked eye also from a city skyalthough artificial lights contaminate the beauty of the event. We therefore advise you to go to a sky with a little light pollution, preferably equipped with a binoculars or a telescope to fully enjoy the event.
