相机镜头里的猎户座升起

相机镜头里的猎户座升起

BySamuel Chan

2024年1月31日 Camera Orion Rising Image Credit & Copyright: Marcin Ślipko Explanation: What does Orion rising look like to a camera? During this time of the year, the famous constellation is visible to the southeast just after sunset. From most Earthly locations, Orion’s familiar star pattern, highlighted by the three-stars-in-a-row belt stars, rises sideways. An entire section of the night sky that includes Orion was photographed rising above Śnieżka, a mountain on the border between Poland and the Czech Republic. The long duration exposure sequence brings up many faint features including the Orion and Flame Nebulas, both encompassed by the curving Barnard’s Loop. The featured wide-angle camera composite also captured night sky icons including the blue Pleiades star cluster at the image top and the red…

地球的大气辉光

地球的大气辉光

ByGotthew

This high exposure photograph revealed Earth’s atmospheric glow against the backdrop of a starry sky in this image taken from the International Space Station on Jan. 21, 2024. At the time, the orbital lab was 258 miles above the Pacific Ocean northeast of Papua New Guinea. The Nauka science module and Prichal docking module are visible at left. Since the space station became operational in November 2000, crew members have produced hundreds of thousands of images of the land, oceans, and atmosphere of Earth, and even of the Moon through Crew Earth Observations. Their photographs of Earth record how the planet changes over time due to human activity and natural events. Image Credit: NASA, ESA/Andreas Mogensen 2024年1月21日，国际空间站拍摄了这张高曝光照片，揭示了星空背景下地球的大气辉光。当时，轨道实验室位于巴布亚新几内亚东北太平洋上空258英里处。在左边可以看到Nauka科学模块和Prichal对接模块。 这张高曝光照片显示了2024年1月21日从国际空间站拍摄的这张照片中，在星空背景下地球的大气辉光。当时，轨道实验室位于巴布亚新几内亚东北部太平洋上空258英里处。在左侧可以看到科学号多功能实验舱和码头号节点舱。 自国际空间站于2000年11月投入运行以来，机组人员通过对地观测，拍摄了数十万张地球陆地、海洋和大气层的照片，甚至月球的照片。他们拍摄的地球照片记录了由于人类活动和自然事件，地球如何随着时间的推移而变化。 影像来源: NASA, ESA/Andreas Mogensen

SLIM登陆月球

SLIM登陆月球

BySamuel Chan

2024年1月30日 SLIM Lands on the Moon Image Credit & Copyright: JAXA, Takara Tomy, Sony Co., Doshisha U. Explanation: New landers are on the Moon. Nearly two weeks ago, Japan‘s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) released two rovers as it descended, before its main lander touched down itself. The larger of the two rovers can hop like a frog, while the smaller rover is about the size of a baseball and can move after pulling itself apart like a transformer. The main lander, nicknamed Moon Sniper, is seen in the featured image taken by the smaller rover. Inspection of the image shows that Moon Sniper‘s thrusters are facing up, meaning that the lander is upside down from its descent configuration and on its side from…

机智号火星直升机原型的新家

机智号火星直升机原型的新家

Byora-ito

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s aerial prototype is seen at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steve F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va, Dec. 15, 2023. The prototype, which was the first to prove it was possible to fly in a simulated Mars environment at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was donated to the museum. Ingenuity’s history-making mission on Mars recently came to an end after one or more of its rotor blades sustained damage during landing, rendering it incapable of flight. Originally designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, the first aircraft on another world operated from the Martian surface for almost three years, performed 72 flights, and flew more than 14 times farther than planned…

昴宿星团: 有尘埃环绕的七姐妹星团

昴宿星团: 有尘埃环绕的七姐妹星团

BySamuel Chan

2024年1月29日 The Pleiades: Seven Dusty Sisters Image Credit & Copyright: Craig Stocks Explanation: The well-known Pleiades star cluster is slowly destroying part of a passing cloud of gas and dust. The Pleiades is the brightest open cluster of stars on Earth’s sky and can be seen from almost any northerly location with the unaided eye. Over the past 100,000 years, a field of gas and dust is moving by chance right through the Pleiades star cluster and is causing a strong reaction between the stars and dust. The passing cloud might be part of the Radcliffe wave, a newly discovered structure of gas and dust connecting several regions of star formation in the nearby part of our Milky Way galaxy. Pressure from the stars’ light…

冥王星的真实色泽

冥王星的真实色泽

BySamuel Chan

2024年1月28日 Pluto in True Color Image Credit: NASA, JHU APL, SwRI; Processing: Alex Parker Explanation: What color is Pluto, really? It took some effort to figure out. Even given all of the images sent back to Earth when the robotic New Horizons spacecraft sped past Pluto in 2015, processing these multi-spectral frames to approximate what the human eye would see was challenging. The result featured here, released three years after the raw data was acquired by New Horizons, is the highest resolution true color image of Pluto ever taken. Visible in the image is the light-colored, heart-shaped, Tombaugh Regio, with the unexpectedly smooth Sputnik Planitia, made of frozen nitrogen, filling its western lobe. New Horizons found the dwarf planet to have a surprisingly complex surface…

天文台与满月

天文台与满月

BySamuel Chan

2024年1月27日 Full Observatory Moon Image Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Carnegie Las Campanas Observatory, TWAN) Explanation: A popular name for January’s full moon in the northern hemisphere is the Full Wolf Moon. As the new year’s first full moon, it rises over Las Campanas Observatory in this dramatic Earth-and-moonscape. Peering from the foreground like astronomical eyes are the observatory’s twin 6.5 meter diameter Magellan telescopes. The snapshot was captured with telephoto lens across rugged terrain in the Chilean Atacama Desert, taken at a distance of about 9 miles from the observatory and about 240,000 miles from the lunar surface. Of course the first full moon of the lunar new year, known to some as the Full Snow Moon, will rise on February 24. Tomorrow’s picture:…

毕宿一: 有行星的恒星

毕宿一: 有行星的恒星

BySamuel Chan

2024年1月26日 Epsilon Tauri: Star with Planet Image Credit & Copyright: Reg Pratt Explanation: Epsilon Tauri lies 146 light-years away. A K-type red giant star, epsilon Tau is cooler than the Sun, but with about 13 times the solar radius it has nearly 100 times the solar luminosity. A member of the Hyades open star cluster the giant star is known by the proper name Ain, and along with brighter giant star Aldebaran, forms the eyes of Taurus the Bull. Surrounded by dusty, dark clouds in Taurus, epsilon Tau is also known to have a planet. Discovered by radial velocity measurements in 2006, Epsilon Tauri b is a gas giant planet larger than Jupiter with an orbital period of 1.6 years. And though the exoplanet can’t…

在火星上待了三年之后，NASA机智号直升机任务结束

在火星上待了三年之后，NASA机智号直升机任务结束

ByGotthew

影像来源：NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA创造历史的机智号火星直升机在超出预期、比计划多进行了数十次飞行后，结束了在这颗红色星球上的任务。虽然这架直升机保持直立状态，并与地面控制人员保持着联系，但本周传回的1月18日的飞行图像显示，它的一个或多个旋翼叶片在着陆过程中受损，无法再飞行。 机智号最初的设计是作为一项技术演示，在30天内进行多达五次实验测试飞行，第一架在另一个世界上的飞机在火星表面运行了近三年，进行了72次飞行，飞行距离是计划的14倍多，总飞行时间超过2小时。 “在另一个星球上的第一架飞机，机智号的历史性旅程已经结束。”NASA局长比尔·纳尔逊说。“这架非凡的直升机飞得比我们想象的更高更远，帮助NASA做了我们最擅长的事情——把不可能变成可能。通过像机智号这样的任务，NASA正在为未来在太阳系的飞行和更智能、更安全的人类探索火星和更远的地方铺平道路。” NASA将在今天的媒体电话会议上讨论独创性任务 除了纳尔逊分享的关于任务结论的视频评论外，NASA还将在美国东部时间今天（1月25日星期四）下午5点召开媒体电话会议，提供机智号火星直升机的最新情况。 这次电话会议的音频将在NASA的网站上进行直播。 与会人员包括: 洛里·格拉斯，华盛顿总部的NASA科学任务理事会行星科学部主任 劳里·莱辛，南加州NASA喷气推进实验室主任 泰迪·赞内托斯，NASA喷气推进实验室机智号项目经理 如欲通过电话参与，媒体可通过电子邮件hq-media@mail.nasa.gov索取拨号信息。 机智号于2021年2月18日降落在火星上，附在NASA毅力号火星车的腹部，并于4月19日首次离开火星表面，这证明了在火星上进行动力控制飞行是可能的。在完成了另外四次飞行后，它开始了一项新的任务，作为操作演示，为毅力号的科学家和火星车驾驶员充当空中侦察兵。2023年，该直升机进行了两次成功的飞行测试，进一步扩大了该团队对其空气动力学极限的了解。 “在NASA喷气推进实验室，创新是我们工作的核心。”莱辛说。“创造力是我们每天突破可能性界限的典范。我为这一历史性技术成就背后的团队感到无比自豪，并渴望看到他们接下来会发明什么。” 机智号团队计划在1月18日进行一次短暂的垂直飞行，以确定在上一次飞行中执行紧急降落后的位置。数据显示，按照计划，直升机达到了40英尺（12米）的最大高度，然后以每秒3.3英尺（1米）的速度开始下降。 然而，在离地面约3英尺（1米）的地方，机智号与作为旋翼飞行器通信中继的火星车失去了联系。第二天，通信重新建立，有关飞行的更多信息被传递给NASA喷气推进实验室的地面控制人员。几天后，显示旋翼叶片受损的图像传来。通讯中断的原因和直升机着陆时的方位仍在调查中。 在2024年1月18日第72次飞行后，NASA的机智号火星直升机拍摄到了这张彩色图像，显示了其一个旋翼叶片的影子，该叶片在着陆过程中受损。 影像来源：NASA/JPL-Caltech 这张NASA机智号火星直升机的增强型彩色照片是根据该机构毅力号火星车上的Mastcam-Z仪器在2023年8月2日即任务的第871个火星日收集的数据生成。这张照片拍摄于旋翼飞机第54次飞行的前一天。 影像来源：NASA/JPL-Caltech 胜利、挑战 在长达近1,000个火星日的延长任务中，机智号比原计划的时间长了33倍多。在这段时间里，机智号进行了升级，具备了在危险地形中自主选择着陆点的能力，处理了失效的传感器，在沙尘暴后进行了自我清理，在48个不同的机场进行了操作，进行了三次紧急着陆，并度过了一个寒冷的火星冬天。 机智号原本设计在春天运行，但在冬季最冷的时候，它无法在整个晚上为加热器供电，导致飞行计算机周期性冻结和重置。这些电力“限电”要求团队重新设计机智号的冬季运作，以保持飞行。 随着飞行操作的结束，机智号团队将对直升机系统进行最终测试，并将剩余的图像和数据下载到机智号的机载存储器中。毅力号火星车目前距离机智号太远，无法在最后的机场拍摄到直升机的图像。 “机智号不仅携带了原始莱特飞行器的样本，而且这架直升机也追随了它的脚步，证明了在另一个世界上飞行是可能的。”机智号的项目经理、NASA喷气推进实验室的泰迪·扎内托斯说。“如果不是机智号和毅力号团队的热情和奉献，火星直升机永远不会飞行一次，更不用说72次了。历史上第一架火星直升机将在未来的太空探索中留下不可磨灭的印记，并将在未来几十年里激励火星上——以及其他世界上——的飞机舰队。” 关于机智号的更多信息 机智号火星直升机由喷气推进实验室建造，喷气推进实验室也为NASA总部管理这个项目。它得到了NASA科学任务理事会支持。位于加州硅谷的NASA艾姆斯研究中心和位于弗吉尼亚州汉普顿的NASA兰利研究中心在机智号的开发过程中提供了重要的飞行性能分析和技术援助。AeroVironment、高通和SolAero也提供了设计协助和主要车辆部件。洛克希德·马丁公司设计并制造了火星直升机运载系统。 在NASA总部，戴夫·拉威利是机智号火星直升机的项目主管。 如欲了解有关机智号的更多信息，请访问： https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter 参考来源： https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/after-three-years-on-mars-nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-mission-ends/

NASA纪念日: 向逝去的英雄致敬

NASA纪念日: 向逝去的英雄致敬

Byora-ito

In honor of the members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery for the benefit all, the agency hosted its annual Day of Remembrance Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Traditionally held on the fourth Thursday in January each year, NASA Day of Remembrance commemorates the crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. “Our annual Day of Remembrance honors the sacrifice of the NASA family who lost their lives in the pursuit of discovery,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “While it is a solemn day, we are forever thankful that our fallen heroes shared their spirt of exploration with NASA, our country, and the world. Today, and every day, we embrace NASA’s core value of…