猎鹰9号伴月

2020年9月5日

A Falcon 9 Moon
Image Credit & Copyright: Katie Darby

Explanation: Illuminating planet Earth’s night, full moons can have many names. This year the last full moon of northern hemisphere summer was on September 2, known to some as the Full Corn Moon. A few days earlier on August 30 this almost full moon rose just before sunset though, shining through cloudy skies over Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Florida’s Space Coast. A well-timed snapshot caught the glare of rocket engines firing below the lunar disk, a Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage successfully returning to Cape Canaveral’s landing zone 1. About 9 minutes earlier, the same SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket had launched the SAOCOM 1B satellite toward polar orbit. The fourth launch for this reusable Falcon 9 first stage, it was the first launch to a polar orbit from Cape Canaveral since 1969.

Tomorrow’s picture: a cosmic crustacean

猎鹰9号伴月
影像提供与版权: Katie Darby

说明: 以月华照亮地球夜空的满月，拥有许多不同的名称。举例来说，今年9月2日刚过去的北半球夏季满月，就有玉米满月的昵称。而在9月满月数天前的8月30日，这轮接近满相的明月于日落前刚升起，在美国．佛罗里达州太空海岸．卡纳维尔角空军站上空的薄云后方绽放光芒。这幅拍照时间抓得很精准的影像，同时也捕捉到月盘下方，引擎曳着炫光正在返回卡纳维尔角第一降落区的猎鹰9号第一级火箭。在拍照的9分钟之前，这艘太空探险公司的猎鹰9号火箭，发射升空以推送SAOCOM 1B卫星前往绕极轨道。这是此部可重复使用的猎鹰9号第一级火箭之第4次发射，也是自1969年以来，卡纳维尔角基地的第一个绕极轨道发射任务。

明日的图片: a cosmic crustacean