主题：科学英语:每日星相(7.30)

每日星相

Daily Astronomy


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说明：每天悬赏50分。

Moon and Antares cross sky together on July 30

Tonight is Thursday, Jul 30 2009

There’s a bright star right next to tonight’s waxing gibbous moon.

It’s Antares, often called the Heart of the Scorpion in the constellation Scorpius. You can’t miss this star because it’s bright and reddish in color. Also, because it’s low in the sky as seen from the northern hemisphere, people in this part of the world often notice that Antares twinkles a lot.

You’ll find the moon to the right of Antares tonight. Because the moon is always moving in orbit around Earth, you’ll find it to the left of Antares tomorrow night. The moon’s movement will carry it directly in front of Antares as seen from parts of Earth, over the coming day. This event is called an occulation of Antares. The occultation will be seen from parts of Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia.

The moon is a chunk of rock, shining with sunlight that reflects from its surface. It can appear to cover Antares only because the moon is so close to us – and so it looks much larger than the star.

But if you could see it up close, you’d find that Antares is one of the galaxy’s largest stars. Many millions of stars the size of our sun could fit inside it. Antares lies some 600 light-years away, in contrast to only 8 light-minutes for the sun. So, like the moon, our sun appears larger to us than this gigantic star.

So look outside tonight for a reddish star near the moon. And remember that it’s really one of the largest stars known.

Written by Deborah Byrd , 30 July 09