保护地球，探索宇宙，发现文明
2020年12月23日 Jupiter Meets Saturn: A Red Spotted Great Conjunction Image Credit & Copyright: Damian Peach Explanation: It was time for their close-up. Two days ago Jupiter and Saturn passed a tenth of a degree from each other in what is known a Great Conjunction. Although the two planets pass each other on the sky every 20 years, this was the closest pas...
2020年12月22日 Trifid Pillars and Jets Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Space Telescope, HLA; Processing: Advait Mehla Explanation: Dust pillars are like interstellar mountains. They survive because they are more dense than their surroundings, but they are being slowly eroded away by a hostile environment. Visible in the featured picture is the end of a huge gas...
2020年12月21日 Solstice: Sunrises Around the Year Image Credit & Copyright: Zaid M. Al-Abbadi Explanation: Does the Sun always rise in the same direction? No. As the months change, the direction toward the rising Sun changes, too. The featured image shows the direction of sunrise every month during 2019 as seen from near the city of Amman, Jordan. The came...
2020年12月20日 A Volcanic Great Conjunction Image Credit & Copyright: Francisco Sojuel Explanation: Where can I see the Great Conjunction? Near where the Sun just set. Directionally, this close passing of Jupiter and Saturn will be toward the southwest. Since the planetary pair, the Sun, and the Earth are nearly in a geometric straight line, the planets wi...
2020年12月19日 Conjunction after Sunset Image Credit & Copyright: Alireza Vafa Explanation: How close will Jupiter and Saturn be at their Great Conjunction? Consider this beautiful triple conjunction of Moon, Jupiter and Saturn captured through clouds in the wintry twilight. The telephoto view looks toward the western horizon and the Alborz Mountains in Ir...
2020年12月18日 Diamond in the Sky Image Credit & Copyright: Mariano Ribas (Planetario de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires) Explanation: When the shadow of the Moon raced across planet Earth’s southern hemisphere on December 14, sky watchers along the shadow’s dark central path were treated to the only total solar eclipse of 2020. During the New Moon&#...
2020年12月17日 Gemini’s Meteors Image Credit & Copyright: Stefano Pellegrini Explanation: Taken over the course of an hour shortly after local midnight on December 13, 35 exposures were used to create this postcard from Earth. The composited night scene spans dark skies above the snowy Italian Dolomites during our fair planet’s annual Geminid m...
2020年12月16日 Sonified: The Matter of the Bullet Cluster Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI, Magellan/U.Arizona; Lensing Map: NASA/STScI, ESO WFI, Magellan/U.Arizona; Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida) Explanation: What’s the matter with the Bullet Cluster? This massive cluster of galaxies (1E...
2020年12月15日 Great Conjunction: Saturn and Jupiter Converge Illustration Credit & Copyright: Sebastian Voltmer Explanation: It’s happening. Saturn and Jupiter are moving closer and will soon appear in almost exactly the same direction. Coincidentally, on the night of the December solstice — the longest night of the year in the north and the lo...
2020年12月14日 Capsule Returns from Asteroid Ryugu Video Credit: JAXA, Hayabusa2 Explanation: The streak across the sky is a capsule returning from an asteroid. It returned earlier this month from the near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu carrying small rocks and dust from its surface. The canister was released by its mothership, Japan’s Hayabusa2, a mission t...