A hazy night sky shows four lined up items. The closest two are lit-up buildings on hills. Looming large in the background, in alignment, is a gibbous Moon, distorted and reddened by the Earth’s atmosphere. Across the Moon’s face is a streak that is an airplane. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.
朦胧的夜空中，四个物体一字排开。最近的两个是山上灯火通明的建筑。背景中一轮盈凸月高高耸立，排列整齐，由于地球大气层的影响，它呈现出扭曲的红色。月面上有一道划痕，那是一架飞机掠过月亮时留下的轨迹。有关更多详细信息，请参阅说明。
See Explanation. Clicking on the video will download the highest resolution version available.
请参阅说明。单击视频将下载可用的最高分辨率版本。
2023年11月6日 Red Aurora over Italy Image Credit & Copyright: Giorgia Hofer Explanation: What was that red glow on the horizon last night? Aurora. Our unusually active Sun produced a surface explosion a few days ago that sent out a burst of electrons, protons, and more massive charged nuclei. This coronal mass ejection (CME) triggered auroras here on Earth that are being reported unusually far south in Earth’s northern hemisphere. For example, this was the first time that the astrophotographer captured aurora from her home country of Italy. Additionally, many images from these auroras appear quite red in color. In the featured image, the town of Comelico Superiore in the Italian Alps is visible in the foreground, with the central band of our Milky Way galaxy…
2023年9月5日 Blue Supermoon Beyond Syracuse Credit & Copyright: Kevin Saragozza Explanation: The last full moon was doubly unusual. First of all, it was a blue moon. A modern definition of a blue moon is a second full moon to occur during one calendar month. Since there are 13 full moons in 2023, one month has to have two — and that month was August. The first full moon was on August 1 and named a Sturgeon Moon. The second reason that the last full moon was unusual was because it was a supermoon. A modern definition of supermoon is a moon that reaches its full phase when it is relatively close to Earth — and so appears a bit larger and brighter than average. Pictured,…
2021年12月19日 Planetary Alignment over Italy Image Credit & Copyright: Antonio Finazzi 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 planets all appear confined to a single band. It is a coincidence, though, when three of the brightest planets all appear in nearly the same direction. Such a coincidence was captured earlier this month. Featured above (right to left), Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter were all imaged together in a line just after sunset, from the San Fermo Hills, Bergamo, Italy. Joining the alignment are Earth’s Moon, and the…
2020年10月21日 A Night Sky Vista from Sardinia Image Credit & Copyright: Tomáš Slovinský Explanation: How many famous sky objects can you find in this image? The featured dark sky composite combines over 60 exposures spanning over 220 degrees to create a veritable menagerie of night sky wonders. Visible celestial icons include the Belt of Orion, the Orion Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy, the California Nebula, and bright stars Sirius and Betelgeuse. You can verify that you found these, if you did, by checking an annotated version of the image. A bit harder, though, is finding Polaris and the Big Dipper. Also discernible are several meteors from the Quandrantids meteor shower, red and green airglow, and two friends of the astrophotographer. The picture was captured in January…
2020年10月20日 Saturn and Jupiter over Italian Peaks Image Credit & Copyright: Giorgia Hofer Explanation: Saturn and Jupiter are getting closer. Every night that you go out and check for the next two months, these two bright planets will be even closer together on the sky. Finally, in mid-December, a Great Conjunction will occur — when the two planets will appear only 0.1 degrees apart — just one fifth the angular diameter of the full Moon. And this isn’t just any Great Conjunction — Saturn (left) and Jupiter (right) haven’t been this close since 1623, and won’t be nearly this close again until 2080. This celestial event is quite easy to see — already the two planets are easily visible toward the southwest just after sunset…
