2025年9月25日
Saturn Opposite the Sun
Image Credit & Copyright: Jin Wang
Explanation: This year Saturn was at opposition on September 21, opposite the Sun in planet Earth’s sky. At its closest to Earth, Saturn was also at its brightest of the year, rising as the Sun set and shining above the horizon all night long among the fainter stars of the constellation Pisces. In this snapshot from the Qinghai Lenghu Observatory, Tibetan Plateau, southwestern China, the outer planet is immersed in a faint, diffuse oval of light known as the gegenschein or counter glow. The diffuse gegenschein is produced by sunlight backscattered by interplanetary dust along the Solar System’s ecliptic plane, opposite the Sun in planet Earth’s sky. Like a giant eye, on this dark night Saturn and gegenschein seem to stare down on the observatory’s telescope domes seen against a colorful background of airglow along the horizon.
Tomorrow’s picture: pixels in space
说明: 今年土星在9月21日达到冲，此时它在地球的天空中与太阳相对。当土星最接近地球时，也是它全年最亮的时候，它在日落时升起，整夜在双鱼座较暗的恒星之间闪耀在地平线上。在这张从中国西南部青藏高原的青海冷湖天文台拍摄的照片中，这颗外行星沉浸在一个微弱的模糊椭圆形光带中，称为对日照或逆辉。模糊的对日照是由太阳光在太阳系的星际尘埃上反向散射而产生的，位于地球天空中与太阳相对的黄道平面上。在这个漆黑的夜晚，土星和对日照就像一只巨大的眼睛，似乎凝视着天文台的望远镜圆顶，在沿着地平线的彩色气辉背景下可以看到。
明日的图片: pixels in space
