保护地球，探索宇宙，发现文明
70米（330英尺）的14号深空站（DSS-14）是加利福尼亚州巴斯托附近戈德斯通深空通信中心最大的深空网络天线。 影像来源：NASA/JPL-Caltech DSN（Deep Space Network, 深空网络）正在进行升级，以便与比以往更多的航天器进行通信，并适应不断变化的任务需求。 当火星2020毅力号火星车在红色星球上着陆时，NASA的深空网络（DSN）就在那里，使该任务能够发送和接收数据，帮助实现这一事件。去年，当OSIRIS-REx采集小行星贝努的样本时，DSN发挥了关键作用，不仅向探测器发送指令序列，而且还将其令人惊叹的照片传回地球。 自1963年以来，DSN一直是NASA深空通信的骨干，定期支持39项任务，其中30多项任务正在开发中。其背后的团队现在正努力提高容量，对网络进行一些改进，这将有...
2021年9月1日 Dancing Ghosts: Curved Jets from Active Galaxies Image Credit: Jayanne English & Ray Norris, EMU-ASKAP, DES; Text: Jayanne English (U. Manitoba) Explanation: Why would galaxies emit jets that look like ghosts? And furthermore, why do they appear to be dancing? The curled and fluffy jets from the supermassive black holes at the centers of two h...
Taken on Aug. 29, 2021, this image shows Hurricane Ida as a category 4 storm nearing the southeast Louisiana coast from the International Space Station. In the foreground, is the Northrop Grumman Cygnus space freighter attached to the station’s Unity module. Since this image was taken, Ida has been downgraded to a tropical depression. Check out other a...
The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), located 210,000 light-years away, is one of the most dynamic and intricately detailed star-forming regions in space. At the center of the region is a brilliant star cluster called NGC 346. A dramatic structure of arched, ragged filaments with a distinct ridge surrounds the cluster. A torrent of radiation from the clusterR...
2021年8月31日 A Blue Moon in Exaggerated Colors Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Fedez Explanation: The Moon is normally seen in subtle shades of grey or gold. But small, measurable color differences have been greatly exaggerated to make this telescopic, multicolored, moonscape captured during the Moon’s full phase. The different colors are recognize...
2021年8月30日 A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia Image Credit: Christa Harbig Explanation: What’s happening to this cloud? Ice crystals in a distant cirrus cloud are acting like little floating prisms. Known informally as a fire rainbow for its flame-like appearance, a circumhorizon arc appears parallel to the horizon. For a circumhorizontal arc to be visi...
2021年8月29日 Orbits of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech Explanation: Are asteroids dangerous? Some are, but the likelihood of a dangerous asteroid striking the Earth during any given year is low. Because some past mass extinction events have been linked to asteroid impacts, however, humanity has made it a priority to find and cat...
2021年8月28日 Mars Rock Rochette Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech Explanation: Taken on mission sol 180 (August 22) this sharp image from a Hazard Camera on the Perseverance rover looks out across a rock strewn floor of Jezero crater on Mars. At 52.5 centimeters (21 inches) in diameter, one of the rover’s steerable front wheels is at lower left in the fram...