保护地球，探索宇宙，发现文明
2022年2月2日 The Galactic Center in Radio from MeerKAT Image Credit: Ian Heywood (Oxford U.), SARAO; Color Processing: Juan Carlos Munoz-Mateos (ESO) Explanation: What’s happening at the center of our galaxy? It’s hard to tell with optical telescopes since visible light is blocked by intervening interstellar dust. In other bands of light, though, su...
2022年2月1日 Moon Phases 2022 Video Credit: Data: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter ; Animation: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio; Music: Build the Future (Universal Production Music), Alexander Hitchens Explanation: What will the Moon phase be on your birthday this year? It is hard to predict because the Moon’s appearance changes nightly. As the M...
2022年1月31日 Carina Nebula North Image Credit & Copyright: Roberto Colombari Explanation: The Great Carina Nebula is home to strange stars and iconic nebulas. Named for its home constellation, the huge star-forming region is larger and brighter than the Great Orion Nebula but less well known because it is so far south — and because so much of humani...
2022年1月30日 A Solar Prominence from SOHO Image Credit: NASA, ESA, SOHO-EIT Consortium Explanation: How can gas float above the Sun? Twisted magnetic fields arching from the solar surface can trap ionized gas, suspending it in huge looping structures. These majestic plasma arches are seen as prominences above the solar limb. In 1999, this dramatic and detailed...
2022年1月29日 The Fornax Cluster of Galaxies Image Credit & Copyright: Marco Lorenzi, Angus Lau, Tommy Tse Explanation: Named for the southern constellation toward which most of its galaxies can be found, the Fornax Cluster is one of the closest clusters of galaxies. About 62 million light-years away, it is almost 20 times more distant than our neighboring...
2022年1月28日 Western Moon, Eastern Sea Image Credit & Copyright: Tom Glenn Explanation: The Mare Orientale, Latin for Eastern Sea, is one of the most striking large scale lunar features. The youngest of the large lunar impact basins it’s very difficult to see from an earthbound perspective. Still, taken during a period of favorable tilt, or libratio...
2022年1月27日 South of Orion Image Credit & Copyright: Vikas Chander Explanation: South of the large star-forming region known as the Orion Nebula, lies bright blue reflection nebula NGC 1999. At the edge of the Orion molecular cloud complex some 1,500 light-years distant, NGC 1999’s illumination is provided by the embedded variable star V380 Orionis...
2022年1月26日 Stars, Dust, and Gas Near Antares Image Credit & Copyright: Mario Cogo (Galax Lux) Explanation: Why is the sky near Antares and Rho Ophiuchi so dusty yet colorful? The colors result from a mixture of objects and processes. Fine dust — illuminated from the front by starlight — produces blue reflection nebulae. Gaseous clouds whose ...
2022年1月25日 Video: Comet Leonard over One Hour Video Credit & Copyright: Matipon Tangmatitham (NARIT); Text: Matipon Tangmatitham Explanation: Which direction is this comet heading? Judging by the tail, one might imagine that Comet Leonard is traveling towards the bottom right, but a full 3D analysis shows it traveling almost directly away from the camer...
2022年1月24日 Rigel and the Witch Head Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: José Mtanous Explanation: By starlight this eerie visage shines in the dark, a crooked profile evoking its popular name, the Witch Head Nebula. In fact, this entrancing telescopic portrait gives the impression that the witch has fixed her gaze on Orion’s bright supergiant star Ri...