扮成土星的月亮

扮成土星的月亮

ByNASA中文

2022年8月2日 A Moon Dressed Like Saturn Image Credit & Copyright: Francisco Sojuel Explanation: Why does Saturn appear so big? It doesn’t — what is pictured are foreground clouds on Earth crossing in front of the Moon. The Moon shows a slight crescent phase with most of its surface visible by reflected Earthlight known as ashen glow. The Sun directly illuminates the brightly lit lunar crescent from the bottom, which means that the Sun must be below the horizon and so the image was taken before sunrise. This double take-inducing picture was captured on 2019 December 24, two days before the Moon slid in front of the Sun to create a solar eclipse. In the foreground, lights from small Guatemalan towns are visible behind the huge…

NASA向尼切尔·尼科尔斯致敬

NASA向尼切尔·尼科尔斯致敬

ByNASA中文

NASA celebrates the life of Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek actor, trailblazer, and role model, who symbolized to so many what was possible. She partnered with us to recruit some of the first women and minority astronauts, and inspired generations to reach for the stars. In this photo from February 2012, Nichols was a featured guest speaker in the Building 8 auditorium at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. at a special event commemorating of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Read more: Nichelle Nichols Helped NASA Break Boundaries on Earth and in Space Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Pat Izzo NASA纪念切尔·尼科尔斯的一生，她是《星际迷航》的演员、开拓者和榜样，她向许多人展示了一切可能。她与我们合作,招募了第一批女性和少数族裔宇航员，并激励了几代人去探索星空。 在这张2012年2月的照片中，尼科尔斯在马里兰州格林贝尔特的美国宇航局戈达德航天飞行中心8号楼礼堂担任特邀演讲人，出席纪念小马丁·路德·金博士生平和遗产的特别活动。 阅读更多：尼切尔·尼科尔斯帮助NASA打破了地球和太空的界限 图片来源：NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Pat Izzo

船底座星云的尘埃山

船底座星云的尘埃山

ByNASA中文

2022年8月1日 Mountains of Dust in the Carina Nebula Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Proccessing: Javier Pobes Explanation: It’s stars versus dust in the Carina Nebula and the stars are winning. More precisely, the energetic light and winds from massive newly formed stars are evaporating and dispersing the dusty stellar nurseries in which they formed. Located in the Carina Nebula and known informally as Mystic Mountain, these pillar’s appearance is dominated by the dark dust even though it is composed mostly of clear hydrogen gas. Dust pillars such as these are actually much thinner than air and only appear as mountains due to relatively small amounts of opaque interstellar dust. About 7,500 light-years distant, the featured image was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope and highlights…

哈勃望远镜的星暴星系M94

哈勃望远镜的星暴星系M94

ByNASA中文

2022年7月31日 Starburst Galaxy M94 from Hubble Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA Explanation: Why does this galaxy have a ring of bright blue stars? Beautiful island universe Messier 94 lies a mere 15 million light-years distant in the northern constellation of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici). A popular target for Earth-based astronomers, the face-on spiral galaxy is about 30,000 light-years across, with spiral arms sweeping through the outskirts of its broad disk. But this Hubble Space Telescope field of view spans about 7,000 light-years across M94’s central region. The featured close-up highlights the galaxy’s compact, bright nucleus, prominent inner dust lanes, and the remarkable bluish ring of young massive stars. The ring stars are all likely less than 10 million years old, indicating that M94 is…

腾空的老鹰号

腾空的老鹰号

ByNASA中文

2022年7月30日 The Eagle Rises Image Credit: Apollo 11, NASA – Stereo Image Copyright: John Kaufmann (ALSJ) Explanation: Get out your red/blue glasses and check out this stereo view from lunar orbit. The 3D anaglyph was created from two photographs (AS11-44-6633, AS11-44-6634) taken by astronaut Michael Collins during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission. It features the lunar module ascent stage, dubbed The Eagle, rising to meet the command module in lunar orbit on July 21. Aboard the ascent stage are Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the first to walk on the Moon. The smooth, dark area on the lunar surface is Mare Smythii located just below the equator on the extreme eastern edge of the Moon’s near side. Poised beyond the lunar horizon is our fair…

天市右垣十一（蛇夫座ζ）：一颗有着复杂过去的恒星

天市右垣十一（蛇夫座ζ）：一颗有着复杂过去的恒星

ByNASA中文

Zeta Ophiuchi is a star with a complicated past, having likely been ejected from its birthplace by a powerful stellar explosion. A new look by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory helps tell more of the story of this runaway star. Located about 440 light-years from Earth, Zeta Ophiuchi is a hot star that is 20 times more massive than the Sun. Previous observations have provided evidence that Zeta Ophiuchi was once in close orbit with another star, before being ejected at about 100,000 miles per hour when this companion was destroyed in a supernova explosion over a million years ago. Previously released infrared data from NASA’s now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope, seen in this new composite image, reveals a spectacular shock wave (red and green) that was…

索菲亚天文台的南极光

索菲亚天文台的南极光

ByNASA中文

2022年7月29日 SOFIA’s Southern Lights Image Credit & Copyright: Ian Griffin (Otago Museum) Explanation: SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, is a Boeing 747SP aircraft modified to carry a large reflecting telescope into the stratosphere. The ability of the airborne facility to climb above about 99 percent of Earth’s infrared-blocking atmosphere has allowed researchers to observe from almost anywhere over the planet. On a science mission flying deep into the southern auroral oval, astronomer Ian Griffin, director of New Zealand’s Otago Museum, captured this view from the observatory’s south facing starboard side on July 17. Bright star Canopus shines in the southern night above curtains of aurora australis, or southern lights. The plane was flying far south of New Zealand at the time at roughly…

木星北极附近的漩涡

木星北极附近的漩涡

ByNASA中文

As NASA’s Juno mission completed its 43rd close flyby of Jupiter on July 5, 2022, its JunoCam instrument captured this striking view of vortices — hurricane-like spiral wind patterns — near the planet’s north pole. These powerful storms can be over 30 miles (50 kilometers) in height and hundreds of miles across. Figuring out how they form is key to understanding Jupiter’s atmosphere, as well as the fluid dynamics and cloud chemistry that create the planet’s other atmospheric features. A NASA citizen science project, Jovian Vortex Hunter, seeks help from volunteer members of the public to spot and help categorize vortices and other atmospheric phenomena visible in JunoCam photos of Jupiter. As of July 2022, 2,404 volunteers had made 376,725 classifications using the Jovian Vortex…

北天极与古树

北天极与古树

ByNASA中文

2022年7月28日 North Celestial Tree Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai (TWAN) Explanation: An ancient tree seems to reach out and touch Earth’s North Celestial Pole in this well-planned night skyscape. Consecutive exposures for the timelapse composition were recorded with a camera fixed to a tripod in the Yiwu Desert Poplar Forests in northwest Xinjiang, China. The graceful star trail arcs reflect Earth’s daily rotation around its axis. By extension, the axis of rotation leads to the center of the concentric arcs in the night sky. Known as the North Star, bright star Polaris is a friend to northern hemisphere night sky photographers and celestial navigators alike. That’s because Polaris lies very close to the North Celestial Pole on the sky. Of course it can be…