拉帕尔马天文台上空的银河

2023年7月18日

Milky Way above La Palma Observatory
Image Credit & Copyright: Marcin Rosadziński

Explanation: What’s happening in the night sky? To help find out, telescopes all over the globe will be pointing into deep space. Investigations will include trying to understand the early universe, finding and tracking Earth-menacing asteroids, searching for planets that might contain extra-terrestrial life, and monitoring stars to help better understand our Sun. The featured composite includes foreground and background images taken in April from a mountaintop on La Palma island in the Canary Islands of Spain. Pictured, several telescopes from the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory are shown in front of a dark night sky. Telescopes in the foreground include, left to right, Magic 1, Galileo, Magic 2, Gran Canarian, and LST. Sky highlights in the background include the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy, the constellations of Sagittarius, Ophiuchus and Scorpius, the red-glowing Eagle and Lagoon Nebulas, and the stars Alrami and Antares. Due to observatories like this, humanity has understood more about our night sky in the past 100 years than ever before in all of human history.

Tomorrow’s picture: beyond the birds

拉帕尔马天文台上空的银河
影像提供与版权: Marcin Rosadziński

说明: 夜空发生了什么事？为找出答案提供助力，全球各地的望远镜纷纷指向深空。所进行的探索包括试图了解早期宇宙、寻找和追踪会威胁地球的小行星、寻找可能拥有外星生命的行星，及监测恒星以期能更探入的了解太阳。例如这幅摄于今年4月的主题影像，就记录了在西班牙加那利群岛帕尔马岛山顶所见的前景与背景事物。如影像所示，在幽暗的夜空前方，纵目可见数座隶属于穆查丘斯罗克天文台的望远镜。在影像前景的望远镜从左到右分别有：Magic 1、Galileo（伽利略）、Magic 2、Gran Canarian（加那利）、及LST。背景天空中较吸睛的景观，则有银河系的中央盘面、人马座、蛇夫座和天蝎座、散发红光的鹰状星云和泻湖星云、及亮星天渊三（Alrami；人马座α星）和心宿二。由于有了如影像所示的这类天文台，人类在过去100年之中，对夜空的了解胜过人类历史上的任何时期。

明日的图片: beyond the birds