金星的位相

金星的位相

2024年1月8日 The Phases of Venus Image Credit & License: Stéphane Gonzales Explanation: Venus goes through phases. Just like our Moon, Venus can appear as a full circular disk, a thin crescent, or anything in between. Venus, frequently the brightest object in the post-sunset or pre-sunrise sky, appears so small, however, that it usually requires binoculars or a small telescope to clearly see its current phase. The featured time-lapse sequence was taken over the course of six months in 2015 from Surgères, Charente-Maritime, France, and shows not only how Venus changes phase, but changes angular size as well. When Venus is on the far side of the Sun from the Earth, it appears angularly smallest and nearest to full phase, while when Venus and Earth are…

大教堂、山峰与月亮

大教堂、山峰与月亮

2023年12月25日 Cathedral, Mountain, Moon Image Credit & Copyright: Valerio Minato Explanation: Single shots like this require planning. The first step is to realize that such an amazing triple-alignment actually takes place. The second step is to find the best location to photograph it. But it was the third step: being there at exactly the right time — and when the sky was clear — that was the hardest. Five times over six years the photographer tried and found bad weather. Finally, just ten days ago, the weather was perfect, and a photographic dream was realized. Taken in Piemonte, Italy, the cathedral in the foreground is the Basilica of Superga, the mountain in the middle is Monviso, and, well, you know which moon is in the…

飞机凌越新月

飞机凌越新月

2023年12月4日 Plane Crossing Crescent Moon Image Credit & Copyright: Juned Patel Explanation: No, the Moon is not a bow, and no, it did not shoot out a plane like an arrow. What is pictured is a chance superposition. The plane’s contrail would normally appear white, but the large volume of air toward the rising Sun preferentially knocked away blue light, not only making the sky blue, but giving the reflected trail a bright red hue. Far in the distance, well behind the plane, the crescent Moon also appears slightly reddened. Captured early last month from Bolton, UK, the featured image was taken so soon after sunrise that the plane was sunlit from below, as was its contrail. Within minutes, unfortunately, the impromptu sky show ended….

日落点所见的日出

日落点所见的日出

2023年10月19日 A Sunrise at Sunset Point Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Ratcliffe Explanation: This timelapse series captured on October 14 is set against the sunrise view from Sunset Point, Bryce Canyon, planet Earth. Of course on that date the New Moon caught up with the Sun in the canyon’s morning skies. Local temperatures fell as the Moon’s shadow swept across the high altitude scene and the brilliant morning sunlight became a more subdued yellow hue cast over the reddish rocky landscape. In the timelapse series, images were taken at 2 minute intervals. The camera and solar filter were fixed to a tripod to follow the phases of the annular solar eclipse. APOD Album: Annular Solar Eclipse of 2023 October Tomorrow’s picture: a comet and a…

日食与环

日食与环

2023年10月16日 Eclipse Rings Image Credit & Copyright: Jerry Zhang (left), Baolong Chen (photographer) & Amber Zhang (right) Explanation: She knew everything but the question. She was well aware that there would be a complete annular eclipse of the Sun visible from their driving destination: Lake Abert in Oregon. She knew that the next ring-of-fire eclipse would occur in the USA only in 16 more years, making this a rare photographic opportunity. She was comfortable with the plan: that she and her boyfriend would appear in front of the eclipse in silhouette, sometimes alone, and sometimes together. She knew that the annular phase of this eclipse would last only a few minutes and she helped in the many hours of planning. She could see their friend…

纪念碑谷上空的火之环

纪念碑谷上空的火之环

2023年10月5日 Ring of Fire over Monument Valley Image Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel (TWAN) Explanation: Tracking along a narrow path, the shadow of a new moon will race across North, Central, and South America, on October 14. When viewed from the shadow path the apparent size of the lunar disk will not quite completely cover the Sun though. Instead, the moon in silhouette will appear during the minutes of totality surrounded by a fiery ring, an annular solar eclipse more dramatically known as a ring of fire eclipse. This striking time lapse sequence from May of 2012 illustrates the stages of a ring of fire eclipse. From before eclipse start until sunset, they are seen over the iconic buttes of planet Earth’s Monument Valley. Remarkably,…

暮光花

暮光花

2023年5月6日 Twilight in a Flower Image Credit & Copyright: Dario Giannobile Explanation: Transformed into the petals of a flower, 16 exposures show the passage of day into night in this creative timelapse skyscape. Start at the top and move counterclockwise to follow consecutive moments as the twilight sky turns an ever darker blue and night blossoms. Each exposure was recorded on the evening of April 22, calculated to maintain a consistent balance of light and color. Close to the western horizon on that date, a crescent Moon and Venus are the two brightest celestial beacons. Petal to petal the pair spiral closer to the flower’s center. In silhouette around the center of the twilight flower are Sicily’s megalithic rocks of Argimusco. Tomorrow’s picture: the helix…

日落(月落)泰姬玛哈陵

日落(月落)泰姬玛哈陵

2022年10月27日 Sunset, Moonset, Taj Mahal Image Credit & Copyright: Neelam and Ajay Talwar (TWAN) Explanation: On October 25th, Sun and New Moon set together as seen from Agra, India. Their close conjunction near the western horizon, a partial solar eclipse, was captured in this elevated view in hazy skies near the solitary dome of the Taj Mahal. Of course, the partial solar eclipse was also seen from most of Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East, and western parts of Asia. This eclipse was the last of two solar eclipses (both partial eclipses) in 2022. But the next Full Moon will slide through planet Earth’s shadow on November 7/8, in a total lunar eclipse. Tomorrow’s picture: comet’s return 日落(月落)泰姬玛哈陵 图像提供与版权: Neelam and Ajay Talwar(TWAN) 说明: 10月25日,从印度.阿格拉市看出去,太阳和新月同时西落。两者在西方地平线附近的近合,带来了悬在泰姬玛哈陵圆顶上方朦胧天空中的日偏食。当然,这次的日偏食,在大部分的欧洲地区、北非、中东、和亚洲西部也得见。而这次日食,是2022年2次日食(均为偏食)中的最后一次。不过,11月7/8日的下轮满月将滑入地球的影子里带来月全食的景观。…

金星与月亮

金星与月亮

2022年2月3日 Embraced by Sunlight Image Credit & Copyright: Juan Luis Cánovas Pérez Explanation: Even though Venus (left) was the brightest planet in the sky it was less than 1/30th the apparent size of the Moon on January 29. But as both rose before the Sun they shared a crescent phase. For a moment their visible disks were each about 12 percent illuminated as they stood above the southeastern horizon. The similar sunlit crescents were captured in these two separate images. Made at different magnifications, each panel is a composite of stacked video frames taken with a small telescope. Venus goes through a range of phases like the Moon as the inner planet wanders from evening sky to morning sky and back again with a period…

即将卸任昏星的金星

即将卸任昏星的金星

2022年1月6日 The Last Days of Venus as the Evening Star Image Credit & Copyright: Tamas Ladanyi (TWAN) Explanation: That’s not a young crescent Moon posing behind cathedral towers after sunset. It’s Venus in a crescent phase. About 40 million kilometers away and about 2 percent illuminated by sunlight, it was captured with camera and telephoto lens in this series of exposures as it set in western skies on January 1 from Veszprem, Hungary. The bright celestial beacon was languishing in the evening twilight, its days as the Evening Star coming to a close as 2022 began. But it was also growing larger in apparent size and becoming an ever thinner crescent in telescopic views. Heading toward a (non-judgemental) inferior conjunction, the inner planet will be…