月亮临边的土星

月亮临边的土星

Saturn at the Moon’s Edge
Image Credit & Copyright: Chengcheng Xu

Explanation: Saturn now rises before midnight in planet Earth’s sky. On July 24, the naked-eye planet was in close conjunction, close on the sky, to a waning gibbous Moon. But from some locations on planet Earth the ringed gas giant was occulted, disappearing behind the Moon for about an hour from skies over parts of Asia and Africa. Because the Moon and bright planets wander through the sky near the ecliptic plane, such occultation events are not uncommon, but they can be dramatic. In this telescopic view from Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, Saturn is caught moments before its disappearance behind the lunar disk. The snapshot gives the illusion that Saturn hangs just above Glushko crater, a 43 kilometer diameter, young, ray crater near the Moon’s western edge. Of course, the Moon is 400 thousand kilometers away, compared to Saturn’s distance of 1.4 billion kilometers.

Tomorrow’s picture: sundance

月亮临边的土星
影像提供与版权: Chengcheng Xu

说明: 目前在地球的天空中，土星于子夜前升起。7月24日那晚，这颗肉眼可见的行星与残月发生了近合，让它和月亮看似几乎贴在一起。而从亚洲和非洲的部分地区看出去，这颗带环气态巨行星受到月亮掩食，于天空中消失在月亮后方约一小时。由于月球和明亮的行星都在黄道面附近出没，因此这种掩星事件并不罕见，然而场景却可以很戏剧性。这幅摄于中国江苏省南京市的望远镜影像，记录了土星即将消失在月盘后方的瞬间。这张快照，给人一种土星悬浮在月球西缘附近的格卢什科撞击坑（直径43公里的年轻辐线月坑）上方的错觉。只不过，月球和地球相去只有40万公里，而土星则距离地球足足有14亿公里。

明日的图片: sundance