哈勃捕捉到了土星的新圖像,讓你懷疑它是否是真的。這張圖像非常清晰,看起來就像土星剛剛漂浮在太空中。它是什么。
This image of the ringed-planet was captured when Saturn was at its closest to Earth, some 1.36 billion km away (845 million miles) on June 20th, 2019. The crisp image was captured with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3.)
這張環(huán)狀行星的圖片拍攝于2019年6月20日,當時土星離地球最近,大約13.6億公里(8.45億英里)。這張清晰的圖像是由哈勃的廣域相機3 (WFC3)拍攝的。
This is an artful image that wouldn't be out of place on a gallery wall. (As long as that gallery was curated by a space nerd.) But it's more than just pretty: it's scientific.
這是一個藝術的形象,非常適合掛在畫廊的墻上(只要那個畫廊是由一個太空迷策劃的)。但它不僅僅是漂亮的:它是科學的。
The image is part of a program called Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy(OPAL.) OPAL's goal is to accumulate long-baseline imagery of our Solar System's gas giant planets, to help us understand their atmospheres over time. This is the second yearly picture of Saturn as part of the OPAL program.
這張圖片是名為“外行星大氣遺產”(opal)項目的一部分。該項目的目標是積累太陽系氣態(tài)巨行星的長基線圖像,幫助我們了解它們隨時間變化的大氣。這是作為OPAL計劃一部分,土星的第二張年度照片。
Saturn always looks so placid. Stately, even. But closer inspection reveals a lot going on there. When we think of storms and gas giants, we usually think of Jupiter, with its prominent horizontal storm bands, and of course, the Great Red Spot. But Saturn is a very active, stormy planet as well.
土星看起來總是那么平靜,甚至是莊嚴的。但仔細觀察就會發(fā)現(xiàn)很多。當我們想到風暴和氣態(tài)巨行星時,我們通常會想到木星,它有顯著的水平風暴帶,當然還有大紅斑。但土星也是一顆非?;钴S、風暴不斷的行星。
Thanks to the OPAL program, we know that a large hexagonal storm in the planet's north polar region has disappeared. And smaller storms come and go frequently. There are also subtle changes in the planet's storm bands, which are largely ammonia ice at the top.
多虧了OPAL計劃,我們知道在土星北極地區(qū)有一場六邊形的大風暴剛剛消失了。小風暴來去頻繁。土星的風暴帶也有微妙的變化,它們主要是頂部的氨冰。
But some features have persisted.
但是一些特性仍然存在。
Cassini spotted the hexagonal storm at Saturn's north pole, and that storm is still there. In fact, the Voyager 1 spacecraft was first to spot that feature back in 1981.
卡西尼號在土星的北極發(fā)現(xiàn)了這場六邊形風暴,而這場風暴至今仍在那里。事實上,旅行者1號宇宙飛船早在1981年就發(fā)現(xiàn)了這一特征。
Mostly though, this new Hubble image of Saturn is just beautiful. Even if you knew nothing about Saturn, its beauty would draw you in.
不過,這張哈勃拍攝的土星的新照片非常漂亮。即使你對土星一無所知,它的美麗也會吸引你。
NASA also released an annotated, more informational version of the Hubble image.
美國航天局還發(fā)布了哈勃圖像的一個注釋版,提供了更多的信息。
圖片來源:NASA