标签： 银河

2020 June 17 Magnetic Streamlines of the Milky Way Image Credit: ESA, Planck; Text: Joan Schmelz (USRA) Explanation: What role do magnetic fields play in interstellar physics? Analyses of observations by ESA’s Planck satellite of emission by small magnetically-aligned dust grains reveal previously unknown magnetic field structures in our Milky Way Gala...

2020 May 26 The Milky Way over Snow-Capped Himalayas Image Credit & Copyright: Tomas Havel Explanation: What’s higher than the Himalayas? Although the Himalayan Mountains are the tallest on planet Earth, they don’t measure up to the Milky Way. Visible above the snow-capped mountains in the featured image is the arcing central band of our home gala...

2020 May 20 Moon, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Milk Way Image Credit & Copyright: Mihail Minkov Explanation: It is not a coincidence that planets line up. That’s because all of the planets orbit the Sun in (nearly) a single sheet called the plane of the ecliptic. When viewed from inside that plane — as Earth dwellers are likely to do — the pl...

2020 April 21 Eye on the Milky Way Image Credit & Copyright: Miguel Claro (TWAN, Dark Sky Alqueva) Explanation: Have you ever had stars in your eyes? It appears that the eye on the left does, and moreover it appears to be gazing at even more stars. The featured 27-frame mosaic was taken last July from Ojas de Salar in the Atacama Desert of Chile. The ey...

2020 March 9 Milky Way and Zodiacal Light over Chile Image Credit & Copyright: Roman Ponča (ht: Masaryk U.) Explanation: What is the band of light connecting the ground to the Milky Way? Zodiacal light — a stream of dust that orbits the Sun in the inner Solar System. It is most easily seen just before sunrise, where it has been called a false dawn,...

2020 February 4 A Sunset Night Sky over the Grand Canyon Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Q. Fugate Explanation: Seeing mountain peaks glow red from inside the Grand Canyon was one of the most incredible sunset experiences of this amateur photographer’s life. They appeared even more incredible later, when digitally combined with an exposure of the ...

2020 January 29 Milky Way over Yellowstone Image Credit & Copyright: Lori Jacobs Explanation: The Milky Way was not created by an evaporating lake. The pool of vivid blue water, about 10 meters across, is known as Silex Spring and is located in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, USA. Steam rises off the spring, heated by a magma chamber deep underneat...

2020 January 5 A Starry Night of Iceland Image Credit: Stephane Vetter (Nuits sacrees) Explanation: On some nights, the sky is the best show in town. On this night, the sky was not only the best show in town, but a composite image of the sky won an international competition for landscape astrophotography. The featured winning image was taken in 2011 over Jök...

2019 December 4 Electric Night Image Credit & Copyright: Ivan Pedretti Explanation: It may appear, at first, like the Galaxy is producing the lightning, but really it’s the Earth. The featured nighttime landscape was taken from a southern tip of the Italian Island of Sardinia in early June. The foreground rocks and shrubs are near the famous Capo S...

2019 November 22 Orion Rising Image Credit & Copyright: Vitalij Kopa Explanation: Looking toward the east in the early hours of a September morning this single exposure made with tripod and camera captured a simple visual experience. Rising above the tree-lined slope are familiar stars in planet Earth’s northern night and the constellation Orion th...