2011年09月28日:巨大的太阳黑子群AR 1302释放出闪焰-（Violent Sunspot Group AR 1302 Unleashes a Flare） 2011年09月28日:巨大的太阳黑子群AR 1302释放出闪焰-（Violent Sunspot Group AR 1302 Unleashes a Flare）--原图下载{mtitle title="巨大的太阳黑子群AR 1302释放出闪焰"/}Image Credit: jp-Brahic说明: 年度最大的一群黑子群(AR 1302)正在横跨太阳。上周，AR 1302初来到太阳边缘时，就已经大到肉眼可见。来自AR 1302日冕抛射物质诱发相当剧烈的地球磁暴，并且在地球两极均有显着的极光活动。上图中，AR 1302表面电浆使得磁场拱起于太阳表面，并且在上周四产生X级的日闪。在影像中插入地球为比例尺，虽然在星期六也产生了一次X级日闪，但是该次日闪并没有正对着地球。AR 1302黑子群将会继续发展，可能道下周还能看见他的蹤影。{lamp/}原文：{mtitle title="Violent Sunspot Group AR 1302 Unleashes a Flare"/}Image Credit: jp-BrahicExplanation: One of the most active sunspot groups in years is currently crossing the Sun.AR 1302 first came around the Sun's edge last week and is so large it can be seen without a telescope. Coronal Mass Ejections from AR 1302 have already caused strong geomagnetic storms including notable aurora activity around both of Earth's poles.Pictured above, plasma was left magnetically hanging above the Sun's surface after AR 1302 emitted an X-class solar flare last Thursday. Earth is illustrated in the inset for a size comparison.Although another X-class flare was emitted on Saturday, no flares from AR 1302 have been aimed directly at the Earth, as yet.The AR 1302 sunspot group will continue to evolve but likely remain visible on the Sun for the next week.

2009年06月17日:M13: 武仙座的巨大球状星团-（M13: A Great Globular Cluster of Stars） 2009年06月17日:M13: 武仙座的巨大球状星团-（M13: A Great Globular Cluster of Stars）--原图下载{mtitle title="M13: 武仙座的巨大球状星团"/}Credit & Copyright: Danny Lee Russell �说明: M13是地球夜空中最出色和最着名的球状星团之一。M13位在武仙座内，用双筒望远镜就能看见它，也因此，它也是观星人在观赏完肉眼可见的夜空珍宝后，接下来通常会去寻找的进阶天体之一。 M13是个由超过十万颗恒星所组成的巨大天体，它的大小超过150光年，距离我们有二万光年，年龄大于120亿年。 1974年阿雷西波望远镜的启用典礼之时，曾向M13传出一则含有地球自传的无线电简讯。 M13含有极少量的蓝掉队星，不过天文学家目前为此不知道为何会是如此。{lamp/}原文：{mtitle title="M13: A Great Globular Cluster of Stars"/}Credit & Copyright: Danny Lee Russell �Explanation: M13is one of the most prominent and best knownglobular clusters. Visible with binoculars in the constellation of Hercules, M13 is frequently one of the first objects found bycurious sky gazers seekingcelestials wondersbeyondnormal human vision. M13 is a colossal home to over 100,000 stars, spans over 150light years across,lies over 20,000 light years distant,and is over 12 billion years old. At the 1974 dedication ofArecibo Observatory, aradio messageabout Earth was sent in the direction ofM13. The reason for the low abundance of unusualblue straggler starsin M13 remains unknown.

2009年01月03日:英仙座双星团-（Double Cluster in Perseus） 2009年01月03日:英仙座双星团-（Double Cluster in Perseus）--原图下载{mtitle title="英仙座双星团"/}Credit & Copyright: Roth Ritter(Dark Atmospheres)说明: 离我们大约七千光年的这对疏散星团 (银盘星团)，位在北天英仙座的一片美丽星野里。除了是一对用双筒望远镜就可以轻易看见的天体之外，在远离光害的地区甚至肉眼可见，因此远在西元前130年，就由希腊天文学家希巴克斯 (Hipparchus)收录在他所编的星表里。现代的编录名称为英仙座h和chi星团、或是NGC 869 (右上)和NGC 884的这对天体，彼此之间相距数百光年，各自拥有一些远比太阳炽热和年轻的成员星。它们除了相距很近之外，根据成员星所定出的星团年龄也很相近，这些皆隐指这二个星团可能是同一个恒星形成区之产物。{lamp/}原文：{mtitle title="Double Cluster in Perseus"/}Credit & Copyright: Roth Ritter(Dark Atmospheres)Explanation: Some 7,000 light-years away, this pair of open or galacticstar clusters is an easybinocular target,a lovely starfield in thenorthern constellationPerseus.Also visible tothe unaided eye from dark sky areas,it was cataloged in 130 BC by Greek astronomerHipparchus.Now known ash andchi Persei, orNGC 869(above right) and NGC 884, the clustersthemselves are separated by only a few hundred light-years andcontain stars much younger and hotter than the Sun. In addition to being physically close together, the clusters' agesbased ontheir individual stars are similar - evidence thatboth clusters were likely a product of the samestar-forming region.

2008年07月29日:安大略上空的银河-（The Milky Way Over Ontario） 2008 July 292008 July 29 {mtitle title="安大略上空的银河"/}Credit & Copyright: Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn(Weather and SkyPhotography)说明: 当你的眼睛适应黑暗之后，你将会看到壮丽的星空。正如这个月初于加拿大的安大略省所见，有部份的夜空影像也倒映在湖面上。首先，肉眼可见最明亮的天体是木星，位于影像的左上方。地平线上弥漫着远方城市的灯光。还有更昏暗的是，我们银河系的盘面看起来就像是天空中一个扩散的云带，撞向远方的地平线上。在前方，可以看到美丽的地景，包括了树木，湖泊，以及岩壁。最后，在这个七月的夜晚，湖面难得地相当宁静，因此可以看到倒影。湖面上的倒影不仅只有几颗亮星，还有一部份的银河。然而，仔细观赏这张影像可以观察到在湖面倒影中的亮星会拖着一条小小的尾巴，但这是天空中的星星看不到的。这是因为上面这张照片是同一台相机的连续曝光经过数位合成的影像。在第一组曝光时，为了使天空中的星星保持在相同的位置，影像是稍微旋转过的。{lamp/}原文：{mtitle title="The Milky Way Over Ontario"/}Credit & Copyright: Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn(Weather and SkyPhotography)Explanation: Sometimes, after your eyes adapt to the dark, a spectacular sky appears. Such was the case earlier this month over Ontario, Canada, when part of a spectacular sky also became visible in a reflection off a lake. To start, the brightest objects visible are bright stars and the planet Jupiter, seen as the brightest spot on the upper left.A distant town appears as a diffuse glow over the horizon. More faint still, the disk of the Milky Way Galaxy becomes apparent as a dramatic diffuse band across the sky that seems to crash into the horizon far in the distance. In the foreground, a picturesque landscape includes trees, a lake, and a stone wall. Finally, on this serene night in July when the lake water was unusually calm, reflections appear. Visible in the lake are not only reflections of several bright stars, but part of the Milky Way band itself.Careful inspection of the image will reveal, however, that bright stars leave small trails in the lake reflections that do not appear in the sky above. The reason for this is because the above image is actually a digital composite of time-consecutive exposures from the same camera. In the first set of exposures, sky images were co-added with slight rotations to keep the stars in one place.

2007年12月05日:匈牙利上空拍摄到的霍姆斯彗星-（Comet Holmes Over Hungary） 2007年12月05日:匈牙利上空拍摄到的霍姆斯彗星-（Comet Holmes Over Hungary）--原图下载{mtitle title="匈牙利上空拍摄到的霍姆斯彗星"/}Credit & Copyright: Tamas Ladanyi说明: 霍姆斯彗星的亮度持续在高档。这颗10月底亮度突然爆增100万倍的奇特彗星，在无光害之处仍然是肉眼可见。每一个夜晚间，17P/霍姆斯彗星慢慢地在英仙座移动，对北半球的观测者而言，在日落之后几乎整个晚上都可以看到它。上图是上週在匈牙利所拍捯的霍姆斯彗星。最明显的特徵仍是像雪球般的巨大彗发，但如今已经产生一点点的彗尾。影像的右方是一个疏散星团 NGC 1245。霍姆斯彗星能维持肉眼可见的亮度多久仍是未知数。{lamp/}原文：{mtitle title="Comet Holmes Over Hungary"/}Credit & Copyright: Tamas LadanyiExplanation: Comet Holmes refuses to fade. The unusual comet that surprisingly brightened nearly a million-fold in late October continues to remain visibleto the unaided eye from dark locations. Night to night, Comet 17P/Holmes is slowly gliding through the constellation Perseus, remaining visible to northern observers during much of the night right from sunset. Pictured above, Comet Holmes was captured from Hungary last week. The remarkable snowball continues to retain a huge coma, but now shows very little of a tail. To the far right is the open cluster of stars NGC 1245.How much longer Comet Holmes will remain visible to the unaided eye is unknown.

2007年11月13日:霍姆斯彗星的内彗髮-（The Inner Coma of Comet Holmes） 2007年11月13日:霍姆斯彗星的内彗髮-（The Inner Coma of Comet Holmes）--原图下载{mtitle title="霍姆斯彗星的内彗髮"/}Credit & Copyright: Gianluca Masi (The Virtual Telescope)说明: 霍姆斯彗星发生了什么事？这颗罕见的彗星正位于英仙座，北半球的观测者现在仍然是肉眼可见，看起来就像一颗小泡芙一样。上面的影像是上星期所拍摄的，针对彗星彗发内部的高解析度影像，因而展现了明显的细节。这张近照可看到数条黯淡的条纹，这可能是由彗核所喷发出来的喷流。霍姆斯彗星在上星期仍保持惊人的亮度，估计亮度大约是2至3个星等之间，这已经比天上多数的星星还亮了。上面这张霍姆斯彗星的影像是由一台0.38米的小型自动化望远镜所拍摄，你只要付少许的费用，也可以透过网路来使用它。{lamp/}原文：{mtitle title="The Inner Coma of Comet Holmes"/}Credit & Copyright: Gianluca Masi (The Virtual Telescope)Explanation: What's happening to Comet Holmes?The rare comet remains visible to the unaided eyes of northern observers as an unusual small puff ball in the constellation of Perseus. A high resolution set of images of the comet's inner coma, taken last week and shown above, reveals significant detail. Close inspection shows numerous faint streamers that are possibly the result of jets emanating from the comet's nucleus. Comet Holmes has remained surprisingly bright over the past week, with luminosity estimates ranging from between visual magnitudes 2 to 3, making it brighter than most stars visible on a dark sky.The above image of Comet Holmes was made with asmall automated 0.38-meter telescope hirable over the web for a small fee.