保护地球，探索宇宙，发现文明
Stars glitter in the night sky above the Earth’s atmospheric glow, as the International Space Station orbited 260 miles above the Earth as it was about to cross over the Caspian Sea. Image Credit: NASA 国际空间站即将穿过里海，围绕地球260英里的上空运行，在地球大气辉光的上方，星星在夜空中闪烁。 影像来源：NASA
2020 January 3 Quadrantids over the Great Wall Image Credit & Copyright: Cheng Luo Explanation: Named for a forgotten constellation, the Quadrantid Meteor Shower is an annual event for planet Earth’s northern hemisphere skygazers The shower’s radiant on the sky lies within the old, astronomically obsolete constellation Quadrans Muralis. That ...
2020 January 2 The Fainting of Betelgeuse Image Credit & Copyright: Jimmy Westlake (Colorado Mountain College) Explanation: Begirt with many a blazing star, Orion the Hunter is one of the most recognizable constellations. In this night skyscape the Hunter’s stars rise in the northern hemisphere’s winter sky on December 30, 2019, tangled in ba...
A galaxy about 23 million light years away is the site of impressive, ongoing fireworks. Rather than paper, powder and fire, this galactic light show involves a giant black hole, shock waves and vast reservoirs of gas. This galactic fireworks display is taking place in NGC 4258, also known as M106, a spiral galaxy like our own Milky Way. This galaxy is famou...
2020 January 1 Betelgeuse Imagined Illustration Credit: ESO, L. Calcada Explanation: Why is Betelgeuse fading? No one knows. Betelgeuse, one of the brightest and most recognized stars in the night sky, is only half as bright as it used to be only five months ago. Such variability is likely just normal behavior for this famously variable supergiant, but the r...