NASA总部的摄影师们挑选他们的最佳作品

This image is one of 100 chosen by the photographers at NASA Headquarters as one of their top images of 2021. See them all.

这张照片是NASA总部的摄影师们选出的2021年最佳照片中的100张照片之一。查看全部照片。

In this image, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with the Lucy spacecraft aboard is seen at Space Launch Complex 41, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Lucy will be the first spacecraft to study Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids. Like the mission’s namesake – the fossilized human ancestor, “Lucy,” whose skeleton provided unique insight into humanity’s evolution – the mission will revolutionize our knowledge of planetary origins and the formation of the solar system. Lucy, which will be the first space mission to study the Trojans, launched on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021.

在这张图片中，佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角空军基地的联合发射联盟宇宙神Ⅴ号运载火箭上搭载的是露西号航天器，摄于2021年10月14日星期四的41号太空发射中心。露西号将是第一个研究木星特洛伊小行星的航天器。就像与该任务同名的人类祖先化石“露西”一样，该任务将彻底改变我们对行星起源和太阳系形成的认识。露西的骨骼为人类进化提供了独特的见解。露西号于2021年10月16日周六发射，这将是第一次研究特洛伊小行星的太空任务。

Time capsules from the birth of our solar system more than 4 billion years ago, the swarms of Trojan asteroids associated with Jupiter are thought to be remnants of the primordial material that formed the outer planets. The Trojans orbit the Sun in two loose groups, with one group leading ahead of Jupiter in its path, the other trailing behind. Clustered around the two Lagrange points equidistant from the Sun and Jupiter, the Trojans are stabilized by the Sun and its largest planet in a gravitational balancing act. These primitive bodies hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the solar system.

从40多亿年前太阳系诞生开始，与木星相关的特洛伊小行星群被认为是形成外行星的原始物质的残余。特洛伊小行星分两组松散地围绕太阳运行，一组在木星轨道的前方，另一组在木星轨道的后方。特洛伊小行星聚集在距离太阳和木星等距离的两个拉格朗日点周围，在太阳和它最大的行星的引力平衡作用下稳定下来。这些原始天体拥有破译太阳系历史的重要线索。

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

图片来源：NASA/Bill Ingalls