保护地球, 探索宇宙, 发现文明
2023年3月30日 NGC 4372 and the Dark Doodad Image Credit & Copyright: Matias Tomasello Explanation: The delightful Dark Doodad Nebula drifts through southern skies, a tantalizing target for binoculars toward the small constellation Musca, The Fly. The dusty cosmic cloud is seen against rich starfields just south of the Coalsack Nebula and the Southern Cross...
2023年3月16日 Millions of Stars in Omega Centauri Image Credit & Copyright: Neil Corke, Heaven’s Mirror Observatory Explanation: Globular star cluster Omega Centauri, also known as NGC 5139, is 15,000 light-years away. The cluster is packed with about 10 million stars much older than the Sun within a volume about 150 light-years in diameter. It’...
2023年2月20日 NGC 1850: Not Found in the Milky Way Image Credit: NASA, ESA and P. Goudfrooij (STScI); Processing: M. H. Özsaraç (Türkiye Astronomi Derneği) Explanation: There is nothing like this ball of stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. This is surprising because, at first glance, this featured image by the Hubble Space Telescope suggests that star cluster NGC 18...
2023年1月30日 Globular Star Cluster NGC 6355 from Hubble Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, E. Noyola, R. Cohen Explanation: Globular clusters once ruled the Milky Way. Back in the old days, back when our Galaxy first formed, perhaps thousands of globular clusters roamed our Galaxy. Today, there are less than 200 left. Over the eons, many globular clusters w...
2022年8月4日 M13: The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules Image Credit & Copyright: Joan Josep Isach Cogollos Explanation: In 1716, English astronomer Edmond Halley noted, “This is but a little Patch, but it shows itself to the naked Eye, when the Sky is serene and the Moon absent.” Of course, M13 is now less modestly recognized as the Great Glo...
2022年3月10日 Globular Star Cluster 47 Tuc Image Credit & Copyright: Bernard Miller Explanation: Globular star cluster 47 Tucanae is a jewel of the southern sky. Also known as NGC 104, it roams the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy along with some 200 other globular star clusters. The second brightest globular cluster (after Omega Centauri) as seen from planet ...
2021年12月12日 Comet Leonard Before Star Cluster M3 Image Credit & Copyright: Dan Bartlett Explanation: Comet Leonard is now visible to the unaided eye — but just barely. Passing nearest to the Earth today, the comet is best seen this week soon after sunset, toward the west, low on the horizon. Currently best visible in the north, by late December th...
2021年10月19日 Palomar 6: Globular Star Cluster Image Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA, R. Cohen Explanation: Where did this big ball of stars come from? Palomar 6 is one of about 200 globular clusters of stars that survive in our Milky Way Galaxy. These spherical star-balls are older than our Sun as well as older than most stars that orbit in our galaxy’s dis...
2021年8月6日 Stars and Dust Across Corona Australis Image Credit & Copyright: Vikas Chander Explanation: Cosmic dust clouds cross a rich field of stars in this telescopic vista near the northern boundary of Corona Australis, the Southern Crown. Less than 500 light-years away the dust clouds effectively block light from more distant background stars in the ...
2021年06月03日 Millions of Stars in Omega Centauri Image Credit & Copyright: Ignacio Diaz Bobillo Explanation: Globular star cluster Omega Centauri, also known as NGC 5139, is some 15,000 light-years away. The cluster is packed with about 10 million stars much older than the Sun within a volume about 150 light-years in diameter. It’s the largest and ...