This week, Mercury will appear in the sky! Hometown of Stars: Star Index released on April 25th-May 1.

Entering Ningxia, on Liupan Mountain, under Helan Mountain, on both sides of the Yellow River, inside and outside the Great Wall, and in the desert oasis, this extreme landscape brings a different kind of romance. I hope you can set foot on this land and feel it.

1. Weather information

This week, the whole area is dominated by cloudy weather. On Tuesday and Thursday nights, the weather turned cloudy and sunny, with cloud cover between 1 and 30%. The atmospheric transparency is good, and the comprehensive stargazing level is about 3, which is more suitable for stargazing.

At other times, it is mainly cloudy and cloudy at night, and the cloud amount is between 5- 10%, which is not conducive to stargazing, and the comprehensive stargazing index is low.

2. Astronomical information

From Monday to Wednesday morning, we can see Saturn, Mars, Venus, Neptune and Jupiter near the moon in turn on the eastern horizon. Visually, we will see that the moon is very close to these planets.

On April 29th 16: 09, what is the easterly distance of Mercury? Mercury is located in Taurus, and will be seen at low altitude in the northwest after sunset. The long-distance conditions are the best in the whole year. Fortunately, on this day, Mercury met the famous Pleiades Cluster (M45, Seven Sisters Cluster), which was a good opportunity for astrophotography.

3. Astronomical popular science: East distance of Mercury

When mercury is in the east of the sun, it is called the eastward distance of mercury, and the distance angle between mercury and the sun reaches the maximum. At dusk, when Mercury is in the east, it can be found on the western horizon.

Stargazing recommendation: Husha Lake

Recommended stargazing index:

Address: Pingluo County, Shizuishan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Stargazing date: April 26/28.

Husha Lake in Ningxia is a five-view garden with natural landscape as the main body and organic combination of sand, water, reeds, birds and mountains. It is a national AAAAA-level tourist scenic spot. Known as a "rare" cultural tourist attraction. It is a tourist pearl on the "Silk Road Post Station", which combines the exquisite scenery of Jiangnan water town with the majesty of Saibei desert.

4. Astronomical beauty: Carina Nebula

There is a nebula in one of the brightest areas of the Milky Way, and something strange is happening there. NGC3372, known as Carina Nebula, is home to massive stars and variable nebulae. The keyhole nebula (NGC3324) is a bright structure slightly below the center of the image, and there are several massive stars in it. The entire carina nebula shown here spans more than 300 light years, about 7500 light years away from us, and lies in the direction of carina. η carina is the most active star in the nebula. It was one of the brightest stars in the sky in the 1930s of 19, but then it darkened sharply. Haishan-2 itself may be on the verge of a supernova explosion, and X-ray images show that most of the Carina nebula is a veritable supernova factory.

Step 5: Skills

1. Ningxia has a large temperature difference between day and night. Please keep warm when you look at the stars at night.

2. Choose places far away from light pollution and less air pollution to watch the stars.

Please avoid bright light 30 minutes before watching the stars and let your eyes adapt to the dark environment.

4. Prepare stargazing equipment, shooting equipment, mobile power supply, light source, watch and hot water in advance.