保护地球，探索宇宙，发现文明
Flames burn orange through green conifers and golden aspen on the slopes of Monroe Mountain in Utah’s Fishlake National Forest, sending gray and brown smoke billowing into the sky in this image from Oct. 9, 2023. This fire was intentionally set with a fire-dripping device suspended from a helicopter. The burn aimed to reintroduce fire to the Monroe Mountain ...
影像来源：X射线：NASA/CXC/SAO; 可见光：T.A. Rector (NRAO/AUI/NSF and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA) and B.A. Wolpa (NOIRLab/NSF/AURA); 红外线：NASA/NSF/IPAC/CalTech/Univ. of Massachusetts; 影像处理：NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare & J.Major 这张NGC 2264的新图像，也被称为“圣诞树星团”，显示了一棵带有恒星光芒的宇宙树的形状。事实上，NGC 2264是我们银河系中的一个年轻恒星群，年龄在100万到500万年之间，距离地球约2,500光年。NGC 2264中的恒星有比太阳小的，也有比太阳大的，有的质量不到太阳的十分之一，有的质量约为太阳的七倍。...
2023年12月20日 Ice Halos over Bavaria Image Credit & Copyright: Bastian Werner Explanation: What’s causing those unusual sky arcs? Ice crystals. While crossing a field of fresh snow near Füssen, Bavaria, Germany, earlier this month, the photographer noticed that he had entered an ice fog. For suspended water to freeze into an ice fog requires quite c...
2023年12月19日 NGC 1499: The California Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: Steven Powell Explanation: Could Queen Calafia‘s mythical island exist in space? Perhaps not, but by chance the outline of this molecular space cloud echoes the outline of the state of California, USA. Our Sun has its home within the Milky Way’s Orion Arm, only about 1,000...
On Aug. 18, 2023, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured ridged lines carved onto Mars’ landscape by the gradual movement of ice. While surface ice deposits are mostly limited to Mars’ polar caps, these patterns appear in many non-polar Martian regions. As ice flows downhill, rock and soil are plucked from the surrounding landscape and ferried along ...
2023年12月18日 The Same Color Illusion Image Credit: Edward H. Adelson, Wikipedia Explanation: Are squares A and B the same color? They are! To verify this, either run your cursor over the image or click here to see them connected. The featured illusion, an example of the same color illusion, illustrates that purely human perceptions in science may be ambiguous...
In this image from Dec. 17, 1903, Orville Wright makes the first powered, controlled flight on Earth as his brother Wilbur looks on. Orville Wright covered 120 feet in 12 seconds during the first flight of the day. The Wright brothers made four flights that day, each longer than the last. The aircraft, Flyer 1, was wrecked beyond repair after the fourth flig...
“I was on console as a part of the primary launch team [for Artemis I]. I was the Orion system specialist for Guidance, Navigation, and Control. … In a few missions, we’re sending astronauts to the Moon again, so being a part of the very, very first mission [was memorable]. … I wasn’t here in 2017 when they first began discussions, but [I can’t even explain ...
2023年12月17日 Geminids over China’s Nianhu Lake Image Credit & Copyright: Hongyang Luo Explanation: Where are all of these meteors coming from? In terms of direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the constellation of Gemini. That is why the major meteor shower in December is known as the Geminids — because shower meteors all appear to come...
2023年12月16日 Crescent Enceladus Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA Explanation: Peering from the shadows, the Saturn-facing hemisphere of tantalizing inner moon Enceladus poses in this Cassini spacecraft image. North is up in the dramatic scene captured during November 2016 as Cassini’s camera was pointed in a nearly sunward directi...