The brightest of Saturn and strawberry Moon

Today in the sky can observe the opposition of Saturn — the planet is closer, it looks bigger and brighter than at any other time this year. To see Saturn, look to the South at midnight. You will see how the planet shines like a Golden star, near the Strawberry moon in the constellation Sagittarius.

Strawberry (Pink) Moon full moon June 28 call, because this period is associated with the ripening of the strawberries. It is also the best night of the year to see the rings of Saturn. Even a small Amateur telescope will allow to observe them. Christopher Go took this picture last night in Cebu in the Philippines. According to him, the brightness of the rings increases, which is due to the Seeliger effect.

Named after the German astronomer Hugo von Seeliger, who discovered it in 1887 the rings of Saturn, the Seeliger effect occurs when lit by the Sun objects hide their own shadow. During opposition, when Saturn is in line with the Sun, the light from the star falls directly on the ice particles in the rings of the planet — they cast a shadow straight back, without eclipsing each other from observers on Earth. The incident and reflected beams overlap each other and we see the ring is much brighter than usual. To observe the effect of Seeliger only for several days during the standoff.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»