嫦娥五号发射

嫦娥五号发射

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2020年11月27日 Chang’e 5 Mission Launch Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai (TWAN) Explanation: This Long March-5 rocket blasted off from the Wenchang launch site in southernmost Hainan province on Tuesday November 24, at 4:30 am Beijing Time, carrying China’s Chang’e-5 mission to the Moon. The lunar landing mission is named for the ancient Chinese goddess of the moon. Its goal is to collect about 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of lunar material from the surface and return it to planet Earth, the first robotic sample return mission to the Moon since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976. The complex Chang’e-5 mission landing target is in the Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms). The smooth volcanic plain was also visited by the Apollo 12 mission in…

火鸡大星云

火鸡大星云

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2020年11月26日 The Great Turkey Nebula Imagination Credit & Copyright: Eric Coles Explanation: Surprisingly reminiscent of The Great Nebula in Orion, The Great Turkey Nebula spans this creative field of view. Of course if it were the Orion Nebula it would be our closest large stellar nursery, found at the edge of a large molecular cloud a mere 1,500 light-years away. Also known as M42, the Orion Nebula is visible to the eye as the middle “star” in the sword of Orion the Hunter, a constellation now rising in planet Earth’s evening skies. Stellar winds from clusters of newborn stars scattered throughout the Orion Nebula sculpt its ridges and cavities seen in familiar in telescopic images. Similar in size to the Orion Nebula, this Great Turkey…

巴塔哥尼亚上空的仙女大星系

巴塔哥尼亚上空的仙女大星系

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2020年11月25日 Andromeda over Patagonia Image Credit & Copyright: Gerardo Ferrarino Explanation: How far can you see? The Andromeda Galaxy at 2.5 million light years away is the most distant object easily seen with your unaided eye. Most other apparent denizens of the night sky — stars, clusters, and nebulae — typically range from a few hundred to a few thousand light-years away and lie well within our own Milky Way Galaxy. Given its distance, light from Andromeda is likely also the oldest light that you can see. Also known as M31, the Andromeda Galaxy dominates the center of the featured zoomed image, taken from the dunes of Bahía Creek, Patagonia, in southern Argentina. The image is a combination of 45 background images with one foreground…

加法夏望远镜拍摄的螺旋星云

加法夏望远镜拍摄的螺旋星云

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2020年11月24日 The Helix Nebula from CFHT Image Credit & Copyright: CFHT, Coelum, MegaCam, J.-C. Cuillandre (CFHT) & G. A. Anselmi (Coelum) Explanation: Will our Sun look like this one day? The Helix Nebula is one of brightest and closest examples of a planetary nebula, a gas cloud created at the end of the life of a Sun-like star. The outer gasses of the star expelled into space appear from our vantage point as if we are looking down a helix. The remnant central stellar core, destined to become a white dwarf star, glows in light so energetic it causes the previously expelled gas to fluoresce. The Helix Nebula, given a technical designation of NGC 7293, lies about 700 light-years away towards the constellation of the…

朱诺号的木星景观

朱诺号的木星景观

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2020年11月23日 A Jupiter Vista from Juno Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS; Processing & License: Kevin M. Gill; Explanation: Why do colorful cloud bands encircle Jupiter? Jupiter’s top atmospheric layer is divided into light zones and dark belts that go all the way around the giant planet. It is high horizontal winds — in excess of 300 kilometers per hour — that cause the zones to spread out planet-wide. What causes these strong winds remains a topic of research. Replenished by upwelling gas, zonal bands are thought to include relatively opaque clouds of ammonia and water that block light from lower and darker atmospheric levels. One light-colored zone is shown in great detail in the featured vista taken by the robotic Juno spacecraft in 2017. Jupiter’s atmosphere is…

暗分子云巴纳德68

暗分子云巴纳德68

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2020年11月22日 Dark Molecular Cloud Barnard 68 Image Credit: FORS Team, 8.2-meter VLT Antu, ESO Explanation: Where did all the stars go? What used to be considered a hole in the sky is now known to astronomers as a dark molecular cloud. Here, a high concentration of dust and molecular gas absorb practically all the visible light emitted from background stars. The eerily dark surroundings help make the interiors of molecular clouds some of the coldest and most isolated places in the universe. One of the most notable of these dark absorption nebulae is a cloud toward the constellation Ophiuchus known as Barnard 68, pictured here. That no stars are visible in the center indicates that Barnard 68 is relatively nearby, with measurements placing it about…

玉龙雪山上空的火星和流星

玉龙雪山上空的火星和流星

ByNASA中文

2020年11月21日 Mars and Meteor over Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai (TWAN) Explanation: A brilliant yellowish celestial beacon, Mars still dazzles in the night. Peering between clouds the wandering planet was briefly joined by the flash of a meteor in this moonless dark sky on November 18. The single exposure was taken as the Earth swept up dust from periodic comet Tempel-Tuttle during the annual Leonid Meteor Shower. The view of a rugged western horizon looks along the Yulong mountain range in Yunnan province, southwestern China. Yulong (Jade Dragon) Snow Mountain lies below the clouds and beyond the end of the meteor streak. Tomorrow’s picture: dark marking on the sky 玉龙雪山上空的火星和流星 影像提供与版权: Jeff Dai（戴建峰） (TWAN) 说明: 明亮泛黄的火星，仍然是夜空很炫目的天体，而在11月18日这个无月的夜晚，云隙后方的火星有转瞬即逝的流星为伴。拍摄这张单曝光影像之时，在每年一度的狮子座流星雨期间，地球正好穿过坦普─塔托彗星遗留的尘埃。影像里嵯峨的西方地平线，为中国西南隅云南省的玉龙山脉之绵延雪峰。在云层下方，流星痕直指的山头即为玉龙雪山。 明日的图片: dark marking on…

火星全图：地面观测版

火星全图：地面观测版

ByNASA中文

2020年11月20日 Global Map: Mars at Opposition Image Credit & Copyright: F. Colas / J.L. Dauvergne / G. Dovillaire / T. Legault / G. Blanchard / B. Gaillard / D. Baratoux / A, Klotz / S2P / IMCCE / OMP / Imagine Optic Explanation: This may be the best global Mars map made with a telescope based on planet Earth. The image data were captured by a team of observers over six long nights at the Pic du Midi mountaintop observatory between October 8 and November 1, when the fourth rock from the Sun had not wandered far from its 2020 opposition and its biggest and brightest appearance in Earth’s night sky. The large telescope used, 1 meter in diameter with a 17 meter focal length,…

载人1号任务的发射光痕

载人1号任务的发射光痕

ByNASA中文

2020年11月19日 Crew-1 Mission Launch Streak Image Credit & Copyright: Jen Scott Explanation: Leaving planet Earth for a moment, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket arced into the early evening sky last Sunday at 7:27 pm EST from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A. This 3 minute 20 second exposure traces the launch streak as seen over watery reflections from Port Canaveral, about 15 miles south of the launch. The rocket carried four astronauts en route to the International Space Station on the first flight of a NASA-certified commercial human spacecraft system. Dubbed Resilience, the astronauts’ Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the orbital outpost one day later, on Monday, November 16. At the conclusion of their six-month stay on the ISS, the Crew-1 astronauts will use…

英仙座双星团

英仙座双星团

ByNASA中文

2020年11月18日 A Double Star Cluster in Perseus Image Credit & Copyright: Greg Polanski Explanation: Most star clusters are singularly impressive. Open clusters NGC 869 and NGC 884, however, could be considered doubly impressive. Also known as “h and chi Persei”, this unusual double cluster, shown above, is bright enough to be seen from a dark location without even binoculars. Although their discovery surely predates recorded history, the Greek astronomer Hipparchus notably cataloged the double cluster. The clusters are over 7,000 light years distant toward the constellation of Perseus, but are separated by only hundreds of light years. In addition to being physically close together, the clusters’ ages based on their individual stars are similar – evidence that both clusters were likely a product of the…