揭示计划的宇宙模拟影片

揭示计划的宇宙模拟影片

BySamuel Chan

2023年12月31日 Illustris: A Simulation of the Universe Video Credit: Illustris Collaboration, NASA, PRACE, XSEDE, MIT, Harvard CfA; Music: The Poisoned Princess (Media Right Productions) Explanation: How did we get here? Click play, sit back, and watch. A computer simulation of the evolution of the universe provides insight into how galaxies formed and perspectives into humanity’s place in the universe. The Illustris project exhausted 20 million CPU hours in 2014 following 12 billion resolution elements spanning a cube 35 million light years on a side as it evolved over 13 billion years. The simulation tracks matter into the formation of a wide variety of galaxy types. As the virtual universe evolves, some of the matter expanding with the universe soon gravitationally condenses to form filaments, galaxies,…

最后的满月

最后的满月

BySamuel Chan

2023年12月30日 The Last Full Moon Image Credit & Copyright: Giacomo Venturin Explanation: Known to some in the northern hemisphere as December’s Cold Moon or the Long Night Moon, the last full moon of 2023 is rising in this surreal mountain and skyscape. The Daliesque scene was captured in a single exposure with a camera and long telephoto lens near Monte Grappa, Italy. The full moon is not melting, though. Its stretched and distorted appearance near the horizon is caused as refraction along the line of sight changes and creates shifting images or mirages of the bright lunar disk. The changes in atmospheric refraction correspond to atmospheric layers with sharply different temperatures and densities. Other effects of atmospheric refraction produced by the long sight-line to this…

太空中的莎翁名剧人物

太空中的莎翁名剧人物

BySamuel Chan

2023年12月29日 Shakespeare in Space Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI Explanation: In 1986, Voyager 2 became the only spacecraft to explore ice giant planet Uranus close up. Still, this newly released image from the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on the James Webb Space Telescope offers a detailed look at the distant world. The tilted outer planet rotates on its axis once in about 17 hours. Its north pole is presently pointed near our line of sight, offering direct views of its northern hemisphere and a faint but extensive system of rings. Of the giant planet’s 27 known moons, 14 are annotated in the image. The brighter ones show hints of Webb’s characteristic diffraction spikes. And though these worlds of the outer Solar System were unknown in…

木星与双子流星

木星与双子流星

BySamuel Chan

2023年12月28日 Jupiter and the Geminid Image Credit & Copyright: Gaurav Singh Explanation: For a brief moment, this brilliant fireball meteor outshone Jupiter in planet Earth’s night. The serendipitous image was captured while hunting meteors under cold Canadian skies with a camera in timelapse mode on December 14, near the peak of the Geminid meteor shower. The Geminid meteor shower, asteroid 3200 Phaethon’s annual gift, always arrives in December. Dust shed along the orbit of the mysterious asteroid causes the meteor streaks, as the vaporizing grains plow through our fair planet’s upper atmosphere at 22 kilometers per second. Of course Geminid shower meteors appear to radiate from a point in the constellation of the Twins. That’s below and left of this frame. With bright Jupiter on…

声化: 子弹星系团的物质

声化: 子弹星系团的物质

BySamuel Chan

2020年12月16日 Sonified: The Matter of the Bullet Cluster Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI, Magellan/U.Arizona; Lensing Map: NASA/STScI, ESO WFI, Magellan/U.Arizona; Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida) Explanation: What’s the matter with the Bullet Cluster? This massive cluster of galaxies (1E 0657-558) creates gravitational lens distortions of background galaxies in a way that has been interpreted as strong evidence for the leading theory: that dark matter exists within. Different analyses, though, indicate that a less popular alternative — modifying gravity– could explain cluster dynamics without dark matter, and provide a more likely progenitor scenario as well. Currently, the two scientific hypotheses are competing to explain the observations: it’s invisible matter versus amended gravity. The duel is dramatic as a clear Bullet-proof example of…