猎户座与松树

2022年4月16日

Orion Pines
Image Credit & Copyright: Juan Carlos Casado (Starry Earth, TWAN)

Explanation: Taken with a camera fixed to a tripod, many short exposures were aligned with the stars to unveil this beautiful, dark night sky. Captured near the rural village of Albany`a at the northeastern corner of Spain, the three stars of Orion’s belt stretch across top center in the starry frame. Alnitak, the easternmost (left) of the belt stars is seen next to the more diffuse glow of the Flame Nebula and the dark notch of the famous Horsehead. Easily visible to the naked-eye The Great Nebula of Orion is below the belt stars. A mere 1,500 light-years distant, it is the closest large stellar nursery to our fair planet. Best seen in photographs, the broad and faint arc of Barnard’s Loop seems to embrace Orion’s brighter stars and nebulae though. In the northern spring the familiar northern winter constellation is setting. Near the western horizon toward lower right Orion’s apparently bright blue supergiant Rigel just touches the branches of a pine tree.

Tomorrow’s picture: Endeavour in Orbit

猎户座与松树
影像提供与版权: Juan Carlos Casado (Starry Earth, TWAN)

说明: 使用固定在三脚架上的相机取得多张短曝光照片之后，再用恒星作为对齐标的加以叠合，方能呈现这片黝黑夜空的美景。在摄于西班牙东北角的Albany`a村附近的这幅影像里，猎户腰带三星横亘在这片星空的顶部。而腰带三星最东端的参宿一（左），紧挨着散发弥漫辉光的火焰星云和著名的暗斑─马头星云。肉眼轻易可见的猎户星云，则位于腰带三星的下方。这团离我们仅有1,500光年远的星云，是离美丽地球最近的大型恒星育婴区。在照片中方能轻易辨识的巴纳德环，其宽广暗淡的光弧，看似在拥抱猎户座的亮星和星云。在这片北半球春天的星野里，熟悉的冬季星座正在西落。而在影像右下角的西方地平线附近，猎户座明亮的蓝超巨星参宿七，看似刚好接在松树的树枝末端。

明日的图片: Endeavour in Orbit