保护地球，探索宇宙，发现文明
2021年03月21日 The Antikythera Mechanism Image Credit & License: Marsyas, Wikipedia Explanation: No one knew that 2,000 years ago, the technology existed to build such a device. The Antikythera mechanism, pictured, is now widely regarded as the first computer. Found at the bottom of the sea aboard a decaying Greek ship, its complexity prompted decades of s...
Spring doesn’t just hapen on Earth. Spring also happens on some of our neighboring planets in the solar system. Of the countless equinoxes Saturn has seen since the birth of the solar system, this one, captured here in a mosaic of light and dark, is the first witnessed up close by an emissary from Earth … none other than our faithful robotic explorer, ...
On March 18, 1978, space shuttle Enterprise arrived at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center for mated vertical ground vibration testing, which marked the first time the entire shuttle compliment – orbiter, external tank, and solid rocket boosters – were mated vertically. Here, Enterprise is offloaded at Redstone Arsenal Airfield before being moved to Marshall...
2021年03月20日 The Leo Trio Image Credit & Copyright: Francis Bozon Explanation: This popular group leaps into the early evening sky around the March equinox and the northern hemisphere spring. Famous as the Leo Triplet, the three magnificent galaxies found in the prominent constellation Leo gather here in one astronomical field of view. Crowd pleasers whe...
2021年03月19日 Central Lagoon in Infrared Image Credit & License: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Data Archive: MAST, Processing: Alexandra Nachman Explanation: Stars fill this infrared view, spanning 4 light-years across the center of the Lagoon Nebula. Visible light images show the glowing gas and obscuring dust clouds that dominate the scene. But this infrared image...
2021年03月18日 Stardust in the Perseus Molecular Cloud Image Credit & Copyright: Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn, Stuart Heggie Explanation: Clouds of stardust drift through this deep skyscape, across the Perseus molecular cloud some 850 light-years away. Dusty nebulae reflecting light from embedded young stars stand out in the nearly 2 degree wide telescopic fiel...
An illustration of NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter flying on Mars. Ingenuity, a technology demonstration experiment, will be the first aircraft to attempt powered, controlled flight on another planet. Ingenuity arrived at Mars on Feb. 18, 2021, attached to the belly of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. Ingenuity is expected to attempt its first flight t...
Sometime in the far distant future, about 4 billion years from now, our Milky Way galaxy will collide with the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, as illustrated in this artist’s rendition. The universe is expanding and accelerating, and collisions between galaxies in close proximity to each other still happen because they are bound by the gravity of the dar...
2021年03月17日 The Surface of Venus from Venera 13 Image Credit: Soviet Planetary Exploration Program, Venera 13; Processing & Copyright: Donald Mitchell & Michael Carroll (used with permission) Explanation: If you could stand on Venus — what would you see? Pictured is the view from Venera 13, a robotic Soviet lander which parachuted and air-bra...
In this image from Jan. 18, 2019, Teddy Tzanetos, MiMi Aung and Bob Balaram of NASA’s Mars Helicopter project observe a flight test of a model of the Mars Helicopter in the Space Simulator, a 25-foot-wide (7.62 meter-wide) vacuum chamber at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Aung is currently the Mars Helicopter Project manager. Aung, who has worked at JPL...