Tonight, the sky presents a \"star and moon fairy tale\"”

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According to astronomy experts, on February 23rd, Beijing time, a first-quarter moon will \"meet\" the star Betelgeuse, creating a \"star-and-moon fairy tale.\" Until the early hours of the 24th, most areas of our country could witness the beautiful sight of the moon and stars shining together. After that, when the dark side of the moon completely covered Aldebaran, creating the phenomenon of the moon eclipsing Aldebaran, this sight could only be seen above the horizon in the western regions of Xinjiang and Tibet in our country. West Asia and Europe were better suited for observing this remarkable astronomical phenomenon. According to Qi Chaoxiang, a researcher at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Moon is Earth’s natural satellite, and its orbit around Earth is called the ecliptic. Every 27.32 days, the Moon orbits the Earth once along the ecliptic path; it passes in front of other celestial bodies that are located near the ecliptic, such as planets and stars, an astronomical phenomenon known as a lunar eclipse. However, only the brighter celestial bodies can be seen with the naked eye. Aldebaran is an orange-red star in the constellation Taurus, located 65 light-years from Earth. This lunar eclipse is of interest because the Moon is in its first quarter phase at that time, and Aldebaran is a relatively bright star, making the scene quite romantic. Qi Chaoxiang said that what was obscured by the moon this time was Aldebaran, which has a brightness greater than magnitude 1; its visual brightness ranks 13th among all stars in the sky. Moreover, it happened to be a fortunate coincidence that during this lunar occultation of Aldebaran, the moon was in a half-circular phase, with one side visible and the other hidden – precisely the part of the moon’s shadow that forms a horizontal D-shaped shape, which overlapped with Aldebaran. Qi Chaoxiang said that the ideal observation time for the public in our country is from after dark tonight until 23:00. At that time, people can look toward the southwest sky, where an orange bright spot can be seen not far above and to the left of the moon. At this time, the bright moon and Aldebaran complement each other, creating a scene reminiscent of a starlit fairy tale; it is a truly rare astronomical phenomenon, whether viewed with the naked eye or through photography.