Just the day after tomorrow!Ready to watch

Poster production: Feng Juan

According to astronomical popular science experts, the brightest asteroid in the sky -the stove star will be rushed on August 23. At that time, the public interested in my country can observe it with the help of the binocular telescope or a small astronomical telescope. Within 20 days, you can still find his trace.

In addition to the solar, planets, dwarf planets, and its satellites, there are many small celestial bodies in the solar system, and asteroids are one of them. Xu Wen, a member of the Chinese Astronomical Society and deputy secretary -general of the Tianjin Astronomical Society, introduced that most small asteroids are between Mars and Jupiter orbit. The average radius of their orbit is close to 2.8 astronomical units (a astronomical unit is about 150 million km).

The asteroid has a schematic diagram. (Photo confession of Tianjin Astronomical Society)

Although the names and planets, although the name is only the difference, the two are essentially different. "The quality of the planet is large, the shape is almost the sphere, and it has its own independent track. The quality of the asteroid is much smaller and has an irregular appearance. Many asteroids also share a track with other" friends'. "Xu Wen said.

According to statistics, more than 1.4 million small asteroids have been found, and about 90%of the known asteroids are located in the asteroid belt. The stove star is one of the larger celestial bodies in the asteroid belt.

The surface status of the stove god star. Xinhua News Agency/Fa Xin

The stove god star, also known as No. 4 small planet, is the brightest asteroid in the sky. It was discovered on March 29, 1807, and named after the "stove god" in Roman mythology, Chinese translated as the stove god star Essence It is generally believed that it has the structure of the earth's nuclear -like shell, which is an ideal research object to recognize the origin of the planet, and one of the important goals of international deep -space detection.

This is a meteorite from the stove star. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Aiping

"When the stove god star, the earth, and the sun are generally on the same line, when the earth is located in the middle of the two, it is called the stove god star. At this time, from the earth, the stove god star reaches the brightest, theoretically visible to theoretically." Xu Wen said.

Antonia volcanic mouth on the stove god star. Xinhua News Agency/Fa Xin

This time, the stove star rushing the sun on August 23. "After the sun fell on the same day, the stove god star raised from the sky in the south of the east, and rose to Zhongtian at night. At this time, it was conducive to observation. During the sun, the brightness of the stove god can reach 5.6. Light pollution is small, this brightness can be seen with the naked eye; if it is observed in the city, because the light pollution is serious, this brightness is difficult to see with the naked eye. The asteroid is not high, and the public must be patient when observing. "Xu Wen said.

Planning: Liu Xinhui

Reporter: Zhou Runjian

Xinhua News Agency's domestic and Xinhua News Agency Tianjin Branch joint production

Produced by Star Studio

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