小精灵星云的恒星形成活动

小精灵星云的恒星形成活动

ByNASA中文

2023年8月28日 Star Formation in the Pacman Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: Craig Stocks Explanation: Look through the cosmic cloud cataloged as NGC 281 and you might miss the stars of open cluster IC 1590. Formed within the nebula, that cluster’s young, massive stars ultimately power the pervasive nebular glow. The eye-catching shapes looming in the featured portrait of NGC 281 are sculpted dusty columns and dense Bok globules seen in silhouette, eroded by intense, energetic winds and radiation from the hot cluster stars. If they survive long enough, the dusty structures could also be sites of future star formation. Playfully called the Pacman Nebula because of its overall shape, NGC 281 is about 10,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. This sharp composite image was…

哈勃看到一个闪亮的临近星系

哈勃看到一个闪亮的临近星系

ByNASA中文

The galaxy ESO 300-16 looms over this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This galaxy, which lies 28.7 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Eridanus, is a ghostly assemblage of stars which resembles a sparkling cloud. Other distant galaxies and foreground stars complete this astronomical portrait, which was captured by the Advanced Camera for Surveys. This observation is one of a series which aims to get to know our galactic neighbors. Hubble has observed around three quarters of known galaxies within about 10 megaparsecs of Earth in enough detail to resolve their brightest stars and establish distances to these galaxies. A team of astronomers proposed using small gaps in Hubble’s observing schedule to acquaint ourselves with the remaining quarter of these nearby galaxies….

三个星系与一颗彗星

三个星系与一颗彗星

ByNASA中文

2023年8月27日 Three Galaxies and a Comet Credit & Copyright: Miloslav Druckmuller (Brno University of Technology) Explanation: Diffuse starlight and dark nebulae along the southern Milky Way arc over the horizon and sprawl diagonally through this gorgeous nightscape. The breath-taking mosaic spans a wide 100 degrees, with the rugged terrain of the Patagonia, Argentina region in the foreground. Along with the insider’s view of our own galaxy, the image features our outside perspective on two irregular satellite galaxies – the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. The scene also captures the broad tail and bright coma of Comet McNaught, the Great Comet of 2007. Tomorrow’s picture: game stars 三个星系与一颗彗星 影像提供与版权: Miloslav Druckmuller (Brno University of Technology) 说明: 在这幅壮丽的影像里，沿着斜贯过夜空的南天银河分布之弥漫星光和暗星云，悬在地平线上方。这幅迷人拼接影像的张角宽达100度，前景则是位于阿根廷巴塔哥尼亚的崎岖原野。影像呈现我们身为银河系圈内人所见的光景之外，也记录了我们作为圈外人所看到的大和小麦哲伦星系，这二个形状不规则的银河伴星系之身影。此外，这张影像也捕捉到曳着宽广彗尾和明亮彗发的2007年大彗星──麦克诺彗星。 明日的图片: game stars

金星的蛾眉位相

金星的蛾眉位相

ByNASA中文

2023年8月26日 Crescents of Venus Image Credit & Copyright: Roberto Ortu Explanation: Just as the Moon goes through phases, Venus’ visible sunlit hemisphere waxes and wanes. This sequence of telescopic images illustrates the steady changes for Venus during its recent 2023 apparition as our evening star. Gliding along its interior orbit between Earth and Sun, Venus grows larger during that period because it is approaching planet Earth. Its crescent narrows though, as the inner planet swings closer to our line-of-sight to the Sun. Closest to the Earth-Sun line but passing about 8 degrees south of the Sun, on August 13 Venus reached its (non-judgmental) inferior conjunction. And now Venus shines above the eastern horizon in predawn skies, completing its transition to planet Earth’s morning star. On…

土星的一季

土星的一季

ByNASA中文

2023年8月25日 A Season of Saturn Image Credit & Copyright: Andy Casely Explanation: Ringed planet Saturn will be at its 2023 opposition, opposite the Sun in Earth’s skies, on August 27. While that puts the sixth planet from the Sun at its brightest and well-placed for viewing, its beautiful ring system isn’t visible to the unaided eye. Still, this sequence of telescopic images taken a year apart over the last six years follows both Saturn and rings as seen from inner planet Earth. The gas giant’s ring plane tilts from most open in 2018 to approaching edge-on in 2023 (top to bottom). That’s summer to nearly the autumn equinox for Saturn’s northern hemisphere. In the sharp planetary portraits, Saturn’s northern hexagon and a large storm system…

测试美国首个载人运载火箭——水星-红石号

测试美国首个载人运载火箭——水星-红石号

ByNASA中文

A Mercury-Redstone launch vehicle awaits test-firing in the Redstone Test Stand at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, in this photo from the late 1950s. Between 1953 and 1960, the rocket team at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville performed hundreds of test firings on the Redstone rocket – over 200 on the Mercury-Redstone vehicle configuration alone. Through Project Mercury, the United States’ first human-in-space program, Mercury-Redstone provided NASA with an opportunity to understand performance aspects of the Mercury spacecraft, the effect of a weightless environment on astronauts, and launch and recovery operations at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image Credit: NASA 在这张20世纪50年代末的照片中，一架水星-红石运载火箭正在阿拉巴马州亨茨维尔的NASA马歇尔航天飞行中心的红石测试台上等待试射。1953年至1960年间，位于亨茨维尔的红石兵工厂的火箭团队对红石火箭进行了数百次试射——仅水星-红石运载火箭配置就超过200次。 通过美国首个载人太空计划“水星计划”，水星-红石号为NASA提供了一个机会，了解水星飞船的性能、失重环境对宇航员的影响，以及佛罗里达州NASA肯尼迪航天中心的发射和回收操作。 影像来源：NASA

沿银河洒落的流星

沿银河洒落的流星

ByNASA中文

2023年8月24日 Meteors along the Milky Way Image Credit & Copyright: Ali Hosseini Nezhad Explanation: Under dark and mostly moonless night skies, many denizens of planet Earth were able to watch this year’s Perseid meteor shower. Seen from a grassy hillside from Shiraz, Iran these Perseid meteors streak along the northern summer Milky Way before dawn on Sunday, August 13. Frames used to construct the composited image were captured near the active annual meteor shower’s peak between 02:00 AM and 04:30 AM local time. Not in this night skyscape, the shower’s radiant in the heroic constellation Perseus is far above the camera’s field of view. But fans of northern summer nights can still spot a familiar asterism. Formed by bright stars Deneb, Vega, and Altair, the…

普赛克组合到一起

普赛克组合到一起

ByNASA中文

In this image from July 18, 2023, a NASA team helps attach solar arrays for the agency’s Psyche spacecraft onto a stand inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The solar arrays are part of the solar electric propulsion system, provided by Maxar Technologies. They will power the spacecraft on its journey to explore a metal-rich asteroid. Psyche is scheduled to lift off at 10:38 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 5, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy. Register to attend the Psyche spacecraft launch and create content based on the experience. Image Credit: NASA/Isaac Watson 在这张来自2023年7月18日的图像中，NASA的一个团队帮助该机构的普赛克（Psyche）航天器将太阳能电池板安装到佛罗里达州肯尼迪航天中心附近的Astrotech空间操作设施内的支架上。太阳能电池板是太阳能电力推进系统的一部分，由Maxar技术公司提供。它们将为探索一颗富含金属的小行星的航天器提供动力。 普赛克计划于美国东部时间10月5日星期四上午10:38乘坐SpaceX猎鹰重型火箭从肯尼迪39A发射中心升空。 注册参加普赛克航天器发射活动，并根据体验创建媒体内容。 图片来源: NASA/Isaac Watson

流星与星系

流星与星系

ByNASA中文

2023年8月23日 The Meteor and the Galaxy Credit & Copyright: Jose Pedrero Explanation: It came from outer space. It — in this case a sand-sized bit of a comet nucleus — was likely ejected many years ago from Sun-orbiting Comet Swift-Tuttle, but then continued to orbit the Sun alone. When the Earth crossed through this orbit, the piece of comet debris impacted the atmosphere of our fair planet and was seen as a meteor. This meteor deteriorated, causing gases to be emitted that glowed in colors emitted by its component elements. The featured image was taken last week from Castilla La Mancha, Spain, during the peak night of the Perseids meteor shower. The picturesque meteor streak happened to appear in the only one of 50 frames…

通往月球的大门

通往月球的大门

ByNASA中文

Gateway’s International Habitat (I-Hab) module, provided by the European Space Agency (ESA), is the focus of this rendered image from Aug. 18, 2023. I-Hab is one of two of the space station’s habitation modules along with HALO, the Habitation and Logistics Outpost. Astronauts will live, conduct research, and prepare for lunar surface missions inside the two living quarters. I-Hab will also house life support systems and camera equipment that will enhance Gateway’s scientific research capabilities. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s planned contributions include I-HAB’s environmental control and life support system, batteries, thermal control, and imagery components. They will be integrated into the module by ESA prior to launch. Gateway will be humanity’s first space station in lunar orbit to support NASA’s deep space exploration plans,…