保护地球，探索宇宙，发现文明
2022年2月12日 Aurora by Moonlight Image Credit & Copyright: P-M Hedén (Clear Skies, TWAN) Explanation: The ice was singing as light from a bright gibbous Moon cast shadows across this frozen lake, about 20 kilometers north of Stockholm, Sweden, planet Earth. In the alluring night skyscape captured on February 10, shimmering auroral curtains of light dance ...
2022年2月8日 Aurora and Light Pillars over Norway Image Credit & Copyright: Alexandre Correia Explanation: Which half of this sky is your favorite? On the left, the night sky is lit up by particles expelled from the Sun that later collided with Earth’s upper atmosphere — creating bright auroras. On the right, the night glows with ground lights reflec...
2021年12月15日 Comet Leonard from Space Image Credit & Copyright: Zhuoxiao Wang, Yangwang-1 Space Telescope, Origin.Space Explanation: What does Comet Leonard look like from space? Today’s featured image from Origin.Space’s Yangwang-1 space telescope shows not only the currently bright comet — but several other space delights as well. Tak...
2021年10月30日 A Rorschach Aurora Image Credit & Copyright: Göran Strand Explanation: If you see this as a monster’s face, don’t panic. It’s only pareidolia, often experienced as the tendency to see faces in patterns of light and shadow. In fact, the startling visual scene is actually a 180 degree panorama of Northern Lights, digitally mi...
2021年9月12日 A Spiral Aurora over Iceland Image Credit & Copyright: Davide Necchi Explanation: What’s happened to the sky? Aurora! Captured in 2015, this aurora was noted by Icelanders for its great brightness and quick development. The aurora resulted from a solar storm, with high energy particles bursting out from the Sun and through a crack in Ea...
2021年7月24日 The Edge of Space Image Credit & Copyright: Ralf Rohner Explanation: Where does space begin? For purposes of spaceflight some would say at the Karman line, currently defined as an altitude of 100 kilometers (60 miles). Others might place a line 80 kilometers (50 miles) above Earth’s mean sea level. But there is no sharp physical boundar...
2021年06月27日 The Dancing Auroras of Saturn Image Credit: NASA, Cassini, VIMS Team, U. Arizona, U. Leicester, JPL, ASI Explanation: What drives auroras on Saturn? To help find out, scientists have sorted through hundreds of infrared images of Saturn taken by the Cassini spacecraft for other purposes, trying to find enough aurora images to correlate changes and...
2021年05月30日 Aurora over Clouds Image Credit & Copyright: Daniele Boffelli Explanation: Auroras usually occur high above the clouds. The auroral glow is created when fast-moving particles ejected from the Sun impact the Earth’s magnetosphere, from which charged particles spiral along the Earth’s magnetic field to strike atoms and molecules hi...
2021年03月24日 Aurorae and Lightning on Jupiter Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SwRI; Text: Natalia Lewandowska Explanation: Why does so much of Jupiter’s lightning occur near its poles? Similar to Earth, Jupiter experiences both aurorae and lightning. Different from Earth, though, Jupiter’s lightning usually occurs near its poles — while muc...
2021年03月14日 A Flag Shaped Aurora over Sweden Image Credit & Copyright: Mia Stålnacke Explanation: It appeared, momentarily, like a 50-km tall banded flag. In mid-March of 2015, an energetic Coronal Mass Ejection directed toward a clear magnetic channel to Earth led to one of the more intense geomagnetic storms of recent years. A visual result was wide s...