2026年2月12日
The Bay of Rainbows
Image Credit & Copyright: Olaf Filzinger
Explanation: Dark, smooth regions that cover the Moon’s familiar face are called by Latin names for oceans and seas. That naming convention is historical, though it may seem a little ironic to denizens of the space age who recognize the Moon as a mostly dry and airless world, and the smooth, dark areas as lava-flooded impact basins. For example, this telescopic lunar vista, looks over the expanse of the northwestern Mare Imbrium, or Sea of Rains and into the Sinus Iridum, the Bay of Rainbows. Ringed by the Jura Mountains (montes), the bay is about 250 kilometers across. Seen after local sunrise, the mountains form part of the Sinus Iridum impact crater wall. Their rugged sunlit arc is bounded at the top by Cape (promontorium) Laplace reaching nearly 3,000 meters above the bay’s surface. At the bottom of the arc is Cape Heraclides, depicted by Giovanni Cassini in his 1679 telescope-based drawings mapping the moon as a moon maiden seen in profile with long, flowing hair.
Tomorrow’s picture: friends of Andromeda
虹湾
影像提供与版权: Olaf Filzinger
说明: 覆盖在月球熟悉的面容上、广阔而平滑的暗色区域，通常以拉丁文的「海」与「洋」为名。这种命名的惯例出于历史渊源，但对太空时代的观测者而言或许略带讽刺，因为我们知道月球其实是个多半干燥且无空气的世界，而那些平滑的暗区其实是被熔岩淹没的撞击盆地。例如，这幅望远镜下的月面景致，俯瞰雨海（Mare Imbrium）西北部的广阔平原，并延伸进入虹湾（Sinus Iridum）。这座海湾环绕着的侏罗山脉（Montes Jura），使其宽度约达250公里。日出之后，可以看到侏罗山脉构成了虹湾巨大撞击环形盆地的部分坑壁的。这条崎岖、被阳光勾勒的山弧，其顶端由拉普拉斯岬（Promontorium Laplace）相连，拉普拉斯岬高出虹湾表面近3,000公尺。而在弧形的下缘则是赫拉克利德岬，曾被乔凡尼·卡西尼在1679年根据望远镜绘制月球地图时，将其描绘成一位月中少女，侧脸轮廓分明、披着长而飘逸的秀发。
明日的图片: friends of Andromeda
