保护地球，探索宇宙，发现文明
Much of Mars is covered by sand and dust but in some places stacks of sedimentary layers are visible. In this image, exquisite layering is revealed emerging from the sand in southern Holden Crater. Sequences like these offer a window into Mars’ complicated geologic history. Holden Crater was once a candidate landing area for the Curiosity, Mars Science...
2020 June 11 Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300 Image Credit: Hubble Heritage Team, ESA, NASA Explanation: Big, beautiful, barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300 lies some 70 million light-years away on the banks of the constellation Eridanus. This Hubble Space Telescope composite view of the gorgeous island universe is one of the largest Hubble images ever made of a comp...
2020 June 9 Orion over Argentine Mountains Image Credit & Copyright: Nicolas Tabbush Explanation: Do you recognize the constellation of Orion? It may be harder than usual in today’s featured image because the camera has zoomed in on the center, and the exposure is long enough to enhance nebulas beyond what the unaided human eye can see. Still, onc...
2020 June 8 Atmospheric Ring of Venus Image Credit & Copyright: Pete Lawrence (Digital Sky) Explanation: Why is Venus surrounded by a bright ring? Sometimes called a ring of fire, this rare ring is caused by the Sun’s light being visible all around an object. Usually seen around the Moon during an annular solar eclipse, the ring of fire is also vi...
用商用飞船“发射美国”（LaunchAmerica）；一名NASA宇航员正返回空间站；小行星贝努（Bennu）有了新的近景图像……最近新闻速递，尽在「本周NASA」！ Credit：NASA 5月30日，美国太空飞行开启了新纪元，NASA的SpaceX第二次测试飞行（Demo-2）向国际空间站进行了历史性的发射，发射点位于佛罗里达州的肯尼迪航天中心。“猎鹰9号运载火箭和载人龙飞船，发射，升空。去吧，NASA，去吧，SpaceX，让鲍勃和道格加速升空吧！” NASA的鲍勃·本肯（Bob Behnken）和道格·赫尔利（Doug Hurley）搭乘SpaceX的载人龙飞船发射入轨，龙飞船被宇航员们取名为“奋进号”（Endeavour）。 这是近9年来，美国宇航员首次乘坐美国航天飞船的发射。这次发射还有许多其他的“第...
2020 June 7 Halo of the Cat’s Eye Image Credit & Copyright: R. Corradi (Isaac Newton Group), Nordic Optical Telescope Explanation: The Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is one of the best known planetary nebulae in the sky. Its haunting symmetries are seen in the very central region of this stunning false-color picture, processed to reveal the eno...
美国宇航局/欧空局哈勃太空望远镜的最新结果表明，早期宇宙中第一批恒星和星系的形成比之前认为的要早。欧洲天文学家还没有发现第一代恒星的证据，也就是所谓的星族Ⅲ，那时宇宙只有5亿年的历史。 探索最早的星系仍然是现代天文学的重大挑战。我们不知道宇宙中最初的恒星和星系是何时或如何形成的。这些问题可以通过哈勃太空望远镜的深度成像观测来解决。哈勃望远镜可以让天文学家将宇宙回溯到大爆炸5亿年内。 美国宇航局/欧空局哈勃太空望远镜的最新结果表明，早期宇宙中第一批恒星和星系的形成比之前认为的要早。欧洲天文学家小组没有发现第一代恒星的证据，也就是第三代恒星，那时宇宙还不到10亿年。这个艺术家的印象呈现了早期的宇宙。 来源：ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser and NASA 由欧洲航天局的Rachana Bhata...
Almost like snowflakes, the stars of the globular cluster NGC 6441 sparkle peacefully in the night sky, about 13,000 light-years from the Milky Way’s galactic center. Like snowflakes, the exact number of stars in such a cluster is difficult to discern. It is estimated that together the stars have 1.6 million times the mass of the Sun, making NGC 6441 one of ...
2020 June 6 Comet PanSTARRs and the Galaxies Image Credit & Copyright: Dan Bartlett Explanation: Comet PanSTARRs, C/2017 T2, shared this stunning telescopic field of view with galaxies M81 and M82 on May 22/23. Of course, the galaxies were some 12 million light-years distant and the comet about 14 light-minutes away, seen in planet Earth’s sky towa...
2020 June 5 Dragon over Central Park Image Credit & Copyright: Stan Honda Explanation: Still bathed in sunlight the International Space Station (ISS) arced through this Manhattan evening sky on May 30. Moving left to right, its bright trail was captured in this composite image with a series of 5 second long exposures. Stars left short trails and lights ...