南峰上空的昴宿星团

2023年12月9日

Pic du Pleiades
Image Credit & Copyright: Jean-Francois Graffand

Explanation: Near dawn on November 19 the Pleiades stood in still dark skies over the French Pyrenees. But just before sunrise a serendipitous moment was captured in this single 3 second exposure; a bright meteor streak appeared to pierce the heart of the galactic star cluster. From the camera’s perspective, star cluster and meteor were poised directly above the mountain top observatory on the Pic du Midi de Bigorre. And though astronomers might consider the Pleiades to be relatively close by, the grain of dust vaporizing as it plowed through planet Earth’s upper atmosphere actually missed the cluster’s tight grouping of young stars by about 400 light-years. While recording a night sky timelapse series, the camera and telephoto lens were fixed to a tripod on the Tour-de-France-cycled slopes of the Col du Tourmalet about 5 kilometers from the Pic du Midi.

Tomorrow’s picture: the plough over the mountain

南峰上空的昴宿星团
影像提供与版权: Jean-Francois Graffand

说明: 在11月19日的黎明时分，昴宿星团高悬在法国庇里牛斯山脉上方的漆黑寂静天空中。但就在日出前，这张曝光3秒的照片，记录了偶然出现的景观：一道明亮的流星痕看似刺穿了这个银河星团的中心。从相机的视角看出去，星团和流星正好位于南峰山顶天文台的正上方。尽管天文学家或许认为昴宿星团相对邻近，然而这颗在地球大气里汽化的尘埃微粒，实际上和此星团密集的年轻恒星相去约400光年。在这拍摄这个夜空影像系列时，相机和长焦镜头，皆固定在距离南峰约5公里远的环法自行车赛的图马雷坡道之三脚架上。 （Pic du Midi 南峰；Tourmalet 图马雷）

明日的图片: the plough over the mountain