2025年10月26日
万圣节与鬼头星云
影像提供: NASA, ESA, Mohammad Heydari-Malayeri (Observatoire de Paris) et al.
说明: 万圣节的起源古老且与天文学有关。自西元前五世纪以来，人们就将万圣节就被作为一个交季节日来庆祝，这一天位于秋分（昼夜等长）和冬至（北半球昼最短，夜最长）之间。然而，根据现代历法，虽然本周晚些时候就是万圣节，但真正的交季节日要到下周才发生。另一个交季节日是土拨鼠日。万圣节的现代庆祝活动保留了历史根源，例如穿着吓人的服装以驱赶亡灵。或许，这张用哈勃太空望远镜拍摄的鬼头星云照片是对这个古老节日的恰如其分的致敬。NGC 2080 类似于虚构的幽灵图象，实际上NGC 2080是大麦哲伦星云（我们银河系的卫星星系）中的一个恒星形成区。鬼头星云（NGC 2080）跨度约50光年，并呈现出代表性的颜色。
明日的图片: comet extended
Due to the lapse in federal government funding, NASA is not updating APOD website. We sincerely regret this inconvenience.
由于美国联邦政府资金中断，NASA目前暂停更新APOD网站。对此带来的不便，我们深感抱歉。
英文原文:
Explanation: Halloween’s origin is ancient and astronomical. Since the fifth century BC, Halloween has been celebrated as a cross-quarter day , a day halfway between an equinox (equal day / equal night) and a solstice (minimum day / maximum night in the northern hemisphere). With a modern calendar however, even though Halloween later this week, the real cross- quarter day will occur the next week. Another cross-quarter day is Groundhog Day . Halloween’s modern celebration retains historic roots in dressing to scare away the spirits of the dead. Perhaps a fitting tribute to this ancient holiday is this view of the Ghost Head Nebula taken with the Hubble Space Telescope . Similar to the icon of a fictional ghost , NGC 2080 is actually a star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud , a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way Galaxy . The Ghost Head Nebula ( NGC 2080 ) spans about 50 light-years and is shown in representative colors.
