隨著一些重磅太空任務(wù)展開，2019年見證了一些從太陽系各處傳回地球的絕妙影像。與此同時，一些最強大的望遠鏡拍攝了宇宙中最迷人的目標，月球背面、恒星煙花……一起欣賞英國廣播公司近日盤點的2019年最佳太空照片。

Up in the clouds

木星云帶

Nasa's Juno spacecraft has been sending back stunning images of Jupiter's clouds since it arrived in orbit around the giant planet in 2016. This amazing, colour-enhanced view shows patterns that look like they were created by paper marbling. The picture was compiled from four separate images taken by the spacecraft on 29 May.

自2016年美國國家航空航天局的“朱諾”號探測器抵達木星軌道后，就一直在發(fā)回木星云帶令人震驚的圖像。一張令人驚嘆的調(diào)色照片顯示了看起來像是由大理石花紋紙創(chuàng)造出來的圖案。這張照片是由“朱諾”號探測器在2019年5月29日拍攝的四張單獨照片合成的。

The snowman

雪人

After its swing-by exploration of Pluto in 2015, Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft was sent after a different target in the distant Kuiper Belt, which lies beyond the orbit of Neptune. This belt is populated by thousands of primitive, icy objects that provide insights into the very beginnings of our Solar System.

在2015年對冥王星進行探測后，美國國家航空航天局的“新視野”號探測器前往遙遠的柯伊伯帶尋找另一個目標，那里位于海王星軌道之外?？乱敛畮в袛?shù)千個原始的冰狀物體，人類可以從中洞察太陽系的起源。

swing-by：短暫拜訪

Kuiper Belt：柯伊伯帶（數(shù)十億顆在海王星軌道之外繞行的小型冰體構(gòu)成的碟形帶）

Scientists settled on an object called MU 69, which had only been discovered in 2014. MU 69 (later called Ultima Thule, and now Arrokoth) turned out to be a 39km-long "contact binary", composed of two different icy balls that collided at low speed. The reddish colouration is caused by organic compounds called tholins on the surface.

科學家們將目標鎖定為一個名為MU69的物體，它是在2014年才被發(fā)現(xiàn)的。MU69（后來被叫做“天涯海角”，現(xiàn)在取名“天空”）其實是一個長39公里的“相接雙星”，由兩個低速碰撞的冰球組成。其紅色外表是由被稱為托林的有機化合物造成的。

Stellar fireworks

恒星煙花

Eta Carinae is a star system located around 7,500 light-years away. It consists of at least two stars that, combined, emit about five million times more energy than our Sun. One of the stars has been releasing hot gas that has expanded into a pair of ballooning lobes. For decades, astronomers have wondered whether it is on the brink of destruction, and will erupt in a violent supernova. This latest image of the stellar fireworks display was released this year, and was taken by the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope.

海山二是位于大約7500光年外的一個恒星系統(tǒng)。它由至少兩顆恒星組成，它們釋放的總能量約為太陽的500萬倍。其中一顆恒星釋放出熱氣，擴大成一對膨脹的氣囊。幾十年來，天文學家一直懷疑它是否處于毀滅的邊緣，并將發(fā)生超新星爆炸。這張最新的恒星煙花圖像是2019年發(fā)布的，由哈勃太空望遠鏡上的第三代寬視場照相機拍攝。

Martian selfie

火星自拍

Nasa's Curiosity rover has been exploring Gale Crater on Mars since 2012. The robot took this "selfie" as it explored the slopes of Mount Sharp - a mountain that forms the central peak of the impact depression.

美國國家航空航天局的“好奇”號火星車自2012年以來一直在探測火星上的蓋爾隕石坑。這個機器人在探索夏普山斜坡時拍下了一張自拍照——夏普山形成了沖擊洼地的中心頂峰。

Two samples of rock drilled from this site showed exceptionally high amounts of clay minerals. Clay often forms in the presence of water, which is a key ingredient for life. Previous evidence had shown that water once pooled in Gale Crater.

這里鉆出的兩份巖石樣品顯示了極大量的粘土礦物。粘土通常有水才能形成，水對生命至關(guān)重要。此前的證據(jù)表明，蓋爾隕石坑曾經(jīng)有水聚集。

Far side of the Moon

月球背面

On 3 January this year, China's Chang'e-4 spacecraft became the first mission to perform a soft landing on the far side of the Moon. A few days after the touchdown, cameras on the robotic rover and its lander were commanded to take photos of one another.

2019年1月3日，中國的嫦娥四號探測器成為首個在月球背面軟著陸的探測器。著陸幾天后，著陸器及巡視器奉命相互拍照。

A galactic rival

銀河的對手

This image taken by the Hubble telescope shows a spiral galaxy called NGC 772, which lies 130 million light-years away. NGC 772 has much in common with our own Milky Way galaxy. For instance, both the Milky Way and NGC 772 have small satellite galaxies, which closely orbit their parent galaxies.

這幅哈勃望遠鏡拍攝的照片展示了一個名為NGC772的螺旋星系，它位于1.3億光年以外。NGC772與我們的銀河系有很多共同之處。例如，銀河系和NGC772都有小型的衛(wèi)星星系，緊密圍繞母星系運行。

However, the two are also different in a few key ways. For example, NGC 772 lacks a central feature called a bar, which is built of gas and stars and is thought to help funnel material through the core of a galaxy - perhaps fuelling star formation.

不過，兩者在幾個關(guān)鍵方面也存在不同。例如，NGC772缺少名為棒狀結(jié)構(gòu)的中心特征，這種結(jié)構(gòu)由氣體和恒星構(gòu)成，據(jù)信可以幫助物質(zhì)通過星系核心——或許能為恒星的形成提供燃料。

We are sailing

我們揚帆飛行

LightSail is a project developed by the non-profit organisation The Planetary Society. Its purpose is to demonstrate solar sailing in low-Earth orbit. Solar sails are a long-discussed way of propelling spacecraft. The sails exploit the fact that sunlight exerts pressure on a mirrored surface. This can, in theory, be used for propulsion in a way that's akin to a sail being blown by the wind.

“光帆”是由美國非營利組織行星學會開發(fā)的項目。其目的是展示近地軌道上的太陽帆技術(shù)。太陽帆是科學家一直在探討的推動飛行器的方式。這些帆利用了陽光會對鏡面施加壓力這一事實。從理論上講，這種壓力可以用于推進，類似風吹動帆。

LightSail 2 was launched on 25 June 2019. This image shows the sail after its deployment on 23 July.

“光帆2號”于2019年6月25日發(fā)射升空。這張照片展示了7月23日太陽帆張開時的情景。

來源：BBC、參考消息網(wǎng)

編輯：yaning