2021年01月05日 The Small Cloud of Magellan Image Credit & Copyright: José Mtanous Explanation: What is the Small Magellanic Cloud? It has turned out to be a galaxy. People who have wondered about this little fuzzy patch in the southern sky included Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan and his c […]
2021年01月03日 A Phoenix Aurora over Iceland Image Credit & Copyright: Hallgrimur P. Helgason; Rollover Annotation: Judy Schmidt Explanation: All of the other aurora watchers had gone home. By 3:30 am in Iceland, on a quiet September night, much of that night’s auroras had died down. Suddenl
2021年01月02日 21st Century Wet Collodion Moon Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Smolinsky Explanation: In the mid 19th century, one of the first photographic technologies used to record the lunar surface was the wet-plate collodion process, notably employed by British astronomer Warren De la Rue. To
2020年12月31日 Trail of the Returner Image Credit & Copyright: Zhuoxiao Wang Explanation: Familiar stars of a northern winter’s night shine in this night skyview, taken near Zhangye, Gansu, China and the border with Inner Mongolia. During the early hours of December 17 Orion is near center i
2020年12月30日 Jupiter and Saturn Great Conjunction: The Movie Video Credit: Thanakrit Santikunaporn (National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand); Text: Matipon Tangmatitham Explanation: Yes, but have you seen a movie of Jupiter and Saturn’s Great Conjunction? The featured time-lapse vi
2020年12月29日 Earth During a Total Solar Eclipse Video Credit: GOES-16, ABI, NOAA, NASA Explanation: What does the Earth look like during a total solar eclipse? It appears dark in the region where people see the eclipse, because that’s where the shadow of the Moon falls. The shadow spot rapidly
2020年12月28日 M16: Inside the Eagle Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: Nicolas Paladini Explanation: From afar, the whole thing looks like an Eagle. A closer look at the Eagle Nebula, however, shows the bright region is actually a window into the center of a larger dark shell of dust. Through this
2020年12月27日 Cosmic Latte: The Average Color of the Universe Color Credit: Karl Glazebrook & Ivan Baldry (JHU) Explanation: What color is the universe? More precisely, if the entire sky were smeared out, what color would the final mix be? This whimsical question came up when trying to determine
2020年12月26日 Fox Fur, Unicorn, and Christmas Tree Image Credit & Copyright: Miguel Claro (TWAN, Dark Sky Alqueva) Explanation: Clouds of glowing hydrogen gas fill this colorful skyscape in the faint but fanciful constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn. A star forming region cataloged as NGC 2264, t
