幻想性视错觉：在宇宙中看到各种形状

幻想性视错觉：在宇宙中看到各种形状

ByNASA中文

What is pareidolia? It is the psychological phenomenon where we see recognizable shapes in clouds, rock formations, or otherwise unrelated objects or data. When an image from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory of PSR B1509-58 – a spinning neutron star surrounded by a cloud of energetic particles about 17,000 light-years from Earth – was released in 2009, it quickly gained attention because many saw a hand-like structure in the X-ray emission. In this image of the system, X-rays from Chandra in gold are seen along with infrared data from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope in red, green and blue. Pareidolia may strike again as some people report seeing a shape of a face in WISE’s infrared data. What do you see? NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic…

照料植物栖息地-02

照料植物栖息地-02

ByNASA中文

NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins tends to radish plants growing for the Plant Habitat-02 experiment, which evaluates plant growth as well as nutrition and taste of the plants. In the final two weeks of 2020, crew members aboard the International Space Station conducted dozens of scientific investigations, including studies of how plants grow in microgravity, tissue regeneration, time perception, changes in heart tissue gene expression, and a possible method for removing debris from space. The astronauts are learning to grow fresh food in space. On long-duration space exploration missions such as to the Moon and Mars, astronauts need to be able to grow nutritious foods to supplement what they can bring from Earth. Plant Habitat-02 examines how radish plants (Raphanus sativus) grow on the space station…

猎户星云中心的混沌

猎户星云中心的混沌

ByNASA中文

Gaseous swirls of hydrogen, sulfur, and hydrocarbons cradle a collection of infant stars in this composite image of the Orion Nebula, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space telescope. Together, the two telescopes expose carbon-rich molecules in the cosmic cloud of this star-formation factory located 1,500 light-years away. Hubble’s ultraviolet and visible-light view reveal hydrogen and sulfur gas that have been heated and ionized by intense ultraviolet radiation from the massive stars, collectively known as the “Trapezium.” Meanwhile, Spitzer’s infrared view exposes carbon-rich molecules in the cloud. Together, the telescopes expose the stars in Orion as a rainbow of dots sprinkled throughout the image. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech STScI 在这张由哈勃太空望远镜和斯皮策太空望远镜拍摄的猎户座星云合成图中，氢气、硫磺和碳氢化合物组成的气体漩涡孕育了一组新生恒星。这两个望远镜合在一起，将这颗位于1,500光年外的恒星形成工厂的宇宙云暴露在富含碳的分子上。 哈勃太空望远镜的紫外线和可见光视图显示了氢气和硫磺气体，它们被来自大质量恒星的强烈紫外线辐射加热和电离，这些恒星统称为“四边形”。与此同时，斯皮策望远镜的红外图像将云层中的富碳分子暴露出来。在望远镜的照射下，猎户座里的星星就像彩虹一样散布在整个图像中。 影像来源：NASA/JPL-Caltech STScI

复古前卫的NASA太空艺术

复古前卫的NASA太空艺术

ByNASA中文

This fictional toroidal (doughnut-shaped) space colony, illustrated by Rick Guidice, is one of many artistic renderings that were born out of an art program at NASA’s Ames Research Center in the 1970s. Ames scientists conducted three different studies into how humans may one build massive space colonies. Artistic endeavors like these help form connections between science and the public, acting as valuable tools in illustrating NASA’s explorations and discoveries. Though the NASA Art Program isn’t as vast as it used to be, makers and creators continue working with NASA scientists and engineers to create visually engaging concept art and animations, like the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Exoplanet Planet Travel Bureau. Image Credit: NASA’s Ames Research Center 这个虚构的环形(甜甜圈形状)太空殖民地，由里克·吉迪斯(Rick Guidice)绘制，是20世纪70年代美国宇航局艾姆斯研究中心(Ames Research Center)的一个艺术项目中诞生的众多艺术效图之一。艾姆斯的科学家们进行了三项不同的研究，研究人类如何建造大规模的太空殖民地。 像这样的艺术努力有助于形成科学与公众之间的联系，在说明NASA的探索和发现方面发挥着宝贵的工具作用。虽然NASA的艺术项目已经不像以前那么庞大了，但制作者和创造者仍在继续与NASA的科学家和工程师合作，创造视觉上吸引人的概念艺术和动画，就像NASA喷气推进实验室的系外行星旅游局。 图片来源:美国宇航局艾姆斯研究中心

回顾：乔治·卡拉瑟斯博士和阿波罗16号远紫外线照相机/摄谱仪

回顾：乔治·卡拉瑟斯博士和阿波罗16号远紫外线照相机/摄谱仪

ByNASA中文

Dr. George Carruthers, a scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory, stands to the right of his invention, the gold-plated ultraviolet camera/spectrograph. The first Moon-based observatory, Carruthers developed it for the Apollo 16 mission. He stands beside his colleague William Conway. Working for the Naval Research Laboratory, Carruthers had three years earlier received a patent for a Far Ultraviolet Electrographic Camera, which obtained images of electromagnetic radiation in short wavelengths. Apollo 16 astronauts placed the observatory on the Moon in April 1972, where it sits today on the Moon’s Descartes highland region, in the shadow of the lunar module Orion. Asked to explain highlights of the instrument’s findings for a general audience, Dr. Carruthers said “the most immediately obvious and spectacular results were really for the…

塑造螺旋星系

塑造螺旋星系

ByNASA中文

Magnetic fields in NGC 1068, or M77, are shown as streamlines over a visible light and X-ray composite image of the galaxy from the Hubble Space Telescope, NuSTAR or the Nuclear Spectroscopic Array, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The magnetic fields align along the entire length of the massive spiral arms — 24,000 light years across (0.8 kiloparsecs) — implying that the gravitational forces that created the galaxy’s shape are also compressing the its magnetic field. This supports the leading theory of how the spiral arms are forced into their iconic shape known as “density wave theory.” SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, studied the galaxy using far-infrared light (89 microns) to reveal facets of its magnetic fields that previous observations using visible…

阿波罗8号：地出

阿波罗8号：地出

ByNASA中文

Taken aboard Apollo 8 by Bill Anders, this iconic picture shows Earth peeking out from beyond the lunar surface as the first crewed spacecraft circumnavigated the Moon, with astronauts Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell aboard. Image Credit: NASA 这幅标志性的照片摄于比尔·安德斯（Bill Anders）的阿波罗8号（Apollo 8）上，这是地球上第一架第一艘载人宇宙飞船绕月飞行时从月球表面窥视的情况，宇航员安德斯（Anders），弗兰克·博尔曼（Frank Borman）和吉姆·洛威尔（Jim Lovell）登上了月球。 影像来源：NASA

恒星珠宝盒

恒星珠宝盒

ByNASA中文

Thousands of sparkling young stars are nestled within the giant nebula NGC 3603, one of the most massive young star clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy. NGC 3603, a prominent star-forming region in the Carina spiral arm of the Milky Way about 20,000 light-years away, reveals stages in the life cycle of stars. Powerful ultraviolet radiation and fast winds from the bluest and hottest stars have blown a big bubble around the cluster. Moving into the surrounding nebula, this torrent of radiation sculpted the tall, dark stalks of dense gas, which are embedded in the walls of the nebula. These gaseous monoliths are a few light-years tall and point to the central cluster. The stalks may be incubators for new stars. On a smaller scale,…

大近合即将来临

大近合即将来临

ByNASA中文

The Moon, left, Saturn, upper right, and Jupiter, lower right, are seen after sunset with the Washington Monument, Thurs. Dec. 17, 2020, in Washington. The two planets are drawing closer to each other in the sky as they head towards a “great conjunction” on Dec. 21, where the two giant planets will appear a tenth of a degree apart. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls 周四，月亮(左)、土星(右上)和木星(右下)在日落后与华盛顿纪念碑合影。2020年12月17日，华盛顿。12月21日，两颗行星在12月21日朝着大近合前进时，彼此之间的距离越来越近，届时这两颗巨大的行星将相距十分之一度。 两颗行星在12月21日朝着大近合前进时，彼此之间的距离越来越近，这两个巨行星之间的距离将相差十分之一。 影像来源：NASA/Bill Ingalls

毅力号探测器进入火星大气层

毅力号探测器进入火星大气层

ByNASA中文

With its heat shield facing the planet, NASA’s Perseverance rover begins its descent through the Martian atmosphere in this illustration. Hundreds of critical events must execute perfectly and exactly on time for the rover to land on Mars safely on Feb. 18, 2021. Entry, Descent, and Landing, or “EDL,” begins when the spacecraft reaches the top of the Martian atmosphere, travelling nearly 12,500 mph (20,000 kph). The aeroshell, which encloses the rover and descent stage, makes the trip to the surface on its own. The vehicle fires small thrusters on the backshell to reorient itself and make sure the heat shield is facing forward as it plunges into the atmosphere. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California built and will manage operations of the Mars…