2019 September 27 The Annotated Galactic Center Image Credit & Copyright: Miguel Claro (TWAN, Dark Sky Alqueva) Explanation: The center of our Milky Way galaxy can be found some 26,000 light-years away toward the constellation Sagittarius. Even on a dark night, you can’t really see it thou […]
In our vast universe, the heaviest black holes grew from seeds. Nourished by the gas and dust they consume, or by merging with other dense objects, these seeds grow in size and heft to form the centers of galaxies, such as our own Milky Way. But unlike in the realm of plants, the seeds of giant blac
2019 September 26 Da Vinci Rise Image Credit & Copyright: Likai Lin Explanation: An old Moon rose this morning, its waning sunlit crescent shining just above the eastern horizon before sunrise. But earthshine, light reflected from a bright planet Earth, lit the shadowed portion of the lunar dis
Credits: NASA/Goddard/Scientific Visualization Studio 导语：美国航空航天局（NASA）新创作了一种超越地球世界的电脑三维动画，从此人类可以通过一款线上的“CGI月球套件”（CGI Moon kit），获得前所未有的月球体验。 智能手机的出现，让上百万人轻松变身业余摄影师，但在某些特定条件下拍到完美的照片仍然是一件困难的事。想象一下，如果我们要拍摄一个三维物体的完整图像，同时这个物体以每秒约一英里（1.6千米）的速度移动；光源距离我们9300英里（约1.5亿公里）之远，而整个三维物体的表面需要精确地呈现在100英尺（约30米）水平的平面之上。
2019 September 25 The Pelican Nebula in Gas, Dust, and Stars Image Credit & Copyright: Yannick Akar Explanation: The Pelican Nebula is slowly being transformed. IC 5070, the official designation, is divided from the larger North America Nebula by a molecular cloud filled with dark dust. The Peli
Like a drop of dew hanging on a leaf, Tethys appears to be stuck to Saturn’s A and F rings from this perspective in this 2014 image from the Cassini mission. For more than a decade, Cassini shared the wonders of Saturn and its family of icy moons—taking us to astounding worlds where methane ri
The gantry arms close around the Soyuz rocket after it was raised into vertical position on the launch pad, Monday, Sept. 23, 2019 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 61 crewmembers Jessica Meir of NASA, Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos, and spaceflight participant Hazzaa Ali Almansoori
2019 September 24 Sand Dunes Thawing on Mars Image Credit & License: ESA, Roscosmos, CaSSIS Explanation: What are these strange shapes on Mars? Defrosting sand dunes. As spring dawned on the Northern Hemisphere of Mars, dunes of sand near the pole, as pictured here in late May by ESA’s Exo
2019 September 23 Equinox: The Sun from Solstice to Solstice Image Credit & Copyright: Tunç Tezel (TWAN) Explanation: Today is an equinox, a date when day and night are equal. Tomorrow, and every day until the next equinox, the night will be longer than the day in Earth’s northern hemisphe
2019 September 22 Eye Sky a Dragon Image Credit & Copyright: Anton Komlev Explanation: What do you see when you look into this sky? In the center, in the dark, do you see a night sky filled with stars? Do you see a sunset to the left? Clouds all around? Do you see the central band of our Milky W
