保护地球，探索宇宙，发现文明
On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard – one of NASA’s first seven astronauts – became the first American in space. In this image, President John F. Kennedy, right, awards NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal to astronaut Shepard in a Rose Garden ceremony on May 8, 1961, at the White House. In the background are the other members of the Mercury Seven, NASA&#...
视频来源：SpaceX SpaceX星舰SN15着陆成功。 这家私人航天公司的最新星舰飞船原型机今天（5月5日）在高空试飞中获得成功，首次检查了从起飞到着陆的每一个环节。 “我们下来了! 星舰飞船已经着陆，”SpaceX的首席集成工程师约翰·英斯普鲁克（John Insprucker）在现场评论中说。 今天的无人飞行测试正值美国首次载人航天飞行60周年之际，美国宇航局宇航员艾伦·谢泼德（Alan Shepard）进行了亚轨道飞行之旅。这种历史上的平行是巧合的，但也是恰当的，因为SN15的成功标志着SpaceX帮助人类扩展足迹到最后疆界的计划向前迈出了一大步。 不锈钢SN15(“Serial No. 15”）于今天美国东部时间下午6:24（格林尼治标准时间22:24）从SpaceX的星舰基...
2021年05月05日 STEVE over Copper Harbor Image Credit & Copyright: MaryBeth Kiczenski Explanation: What creates STEVEs? Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancements (STEVEs) have likely been seen since antiquity, but only in the past five years has it been realized that their colors and shapes make them different from auroras. Seen as single bright streaks...
May the Fourth Be With You! When the first Star Wars movie was released in 1977, it featured the now-iconic two-sun, “circumbinary” planet Tatooine. At that time astronomers didn’t really know if such solar systems existed. Indeed, the first extra-solar planet wasn’t detected until the early 1990s. And, the first actual circumbinary planet was detected in 20...
2021年05月04日 Space Station, Solar Prominences, Sun Image Credit & Copyright: Mehmet Ergün Explanation: That’s no sunspot. It’s the International Space Station (ISS) caught passing in front of the Sun. Sunspots, individually, have a dark central umbra, a lighter surrounding penumbra, and no Dragon capsules attached. By contrast, the ISS is a ...
NASA的哈勃太空望远镜让天文学家们罕见地看到了一颗木星大小、仍在形成中的行星，它正以一颗年轻恒星周围的物质为食。 “我们只是对巨行星如何成长了解不多。”德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的布伦丹·鲍勒（Brendan Bowler）说。“这个行星系统为我们提供了第一个见证物质落入行星的机会。我们的结果为这项研究开辟了一个新的领域。“ 这幅新形成的系外行星PDS 70b的插图显示了物质如何随着它的质量增加而落到这个巨型世界上。利用哈勃望远镜的紫外光(UV)灵敏度，研究人员获得了一种独特的观测方法，观察了从极热气体落到该行星上的辐射，使他们首次能够直接测量该行星的质量增长率。PDS 70b行星被它自己的气体和尘埃盘所包围，它从这个行星系中更大的环绕星盘吸收物质。研究人员假设，磁场线从环绕行星的圆盘延伸到该系外行星的大气层，并...
Perseverance Mars rover mission commentator and guidance, navigation, and controls operations Lead Swati Mohan studies data on monitors in mission control, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient mi...
The interaction of two doomed stars has created this spectacular ring adorned with bright clumps of gas – a diamond necklace of cosmic proportions. Fittingly known as the “Necklace Nebula,” this planetary nebula is located 15,000 light-years away from Earth in the small, dim constellation of Sagitta (the Arrow). A pair of tightly orbiting Sun-like stars pro...
2021年05月03日 Apollo 11: Earth, Moon, Spaceship Image Credit: NASA, Apollo 11; Restoration – Toby Ord Explanation: After the most famous voyage of modern times, it was time to go home. After proving that humanity has the ability to go beyond the confines of planet Earth, the first humans to walk on another world — Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin ...
2021年05月02日 Clouds of the Carina Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: John Ebersole Explanation: What forms lurk in the mists of the Carina Nebula? The dark ominous figures are actually molecular clouds, knots of molecular gas and dust so thick they have become opaque. In comparison, however, these clouds are typically much less dense than Earth’s atm...