Earth
and Moon 地球和月球 (28/7/2003)
六月底發射的火星特快號，現在回望我們的地球，為我們的家拍下一張寫照，而且還包括了有月球在內。這張相在7月3日影的，那時火星特快號距離地球800萬公里。其實這張相是一張試相，很多太空探測船都一樣，在發射後不久便會為地球拍一張照，來測試它的儀器。
Caption::
On the night of 3 July 2003, the Mars Express spacecraft was pointed backwards
to obtain a view of the Earth-Moon system from a distance of 8 million
kilometres while on its way to Mars. This image is the first picture of
planetary objects obtained by the Mars Express’s High Resolution Stereo
Camera (HRSC). Although the spatial resolution is low at this great distance,
the picture gives a good indication of what to expect from Mars Express
in its orbit around Mars. At only 250-300 kilometres above Mars, the camera
will obtain very high-resolution images, in brilliant colour and impressive
3D of most of the Martian surface, at resolutions of up to 2 metres. The
image was built by combining a super resolution black-and-white snap-shot
image of the Earth and the Moon taken by the HRSC with colour information
obtained by the blue, green, and red sensors of the instrument.
Credit::
ESA/DLR/Freie Universitat Berlin
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Snack
in Sunset 黃昏覓食 (27/7/2003)
不同的雀鳥有不同的覓食習慣，而且也會有不同的覓食地方，例如相中的就在黃昏時間在海岸邊覓食。
Caption::
Different birds would have different habitat as well as where they hurt.
In this picture, the birds are searching for their prey on the shore.
Credit::
SuperStock
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M101
by GALEX 星系演化探索號的 M101 (26/7/2003)
一個新的，專門負責研究星系演化的探測器GALEX(星系演化探索號)，這是它首批對外發表的相片的其中一張。星系跟恆星一樣會有自己的演化，究竟星系從那裏來這個問題一直困擾著天文學家，所以就有GALEX的任務。原來星系剛剛形成時是很不規則的，後期才會變得完整。圖中的是M101，你可以見到它的螺旋形十分完整，是一個典型的已演化星系。
Caption::
This three-color image of galaxy M101 was taken by NASA's Galaxy Evolution
Explorer on June 20, 2003. The far ultraviolet emissions are shown in
blue, the near ultraviolet emissions are green, and the red emissions,
which were taken from NASA's Digital Sky Survey, represent visible light.
This image combines short, medium, and long "exposure" pictures
to best display the evolution of star formation in a spiral galaxy.
Credit::
NASA/JPL/Caltech
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IC
4603 (25/7/2003)
這個星雲的編號是IC4603(IC 解作 Index Catalog)，位於巨蛇座，接近天蠍座的主星--心宿二。每個星雲都有著塵埃和氣體，這個星雲是藍色的是因為星雲內的塵埃反射了恆星的星光，所以這一類星雲稱為反射星雲。
Caption::
Why does this starfield photograph resemble an impressionistic painting?
The effect is created not by digital trickery but by large amounts of
interstellar dust. Dust, minute globs rich in carbon and similar in size
to cigarette smoke, frequently starts in the outer atmospheres of large,
cool, young stars. The dust is dispersed as the star dies and grows as
things stick to it in the interstellar medium. Dense dust clouds are opaque
to visible light and can completely hide background stars. For less dense
clouds, the capacity of dust to preferentially reflect blue starlight
becomes important, effectively blooming the stars blue light out and marking
the surrounding dust. Nebular gas emissions, typically brightest in red
light, can combine to form areas seemingly created on an artist's canvas.
Photographed above is roughly one square degree of the nebula IC 4603
near the bright star Antares toward the constellation of Ophiuchus.
Credit::
Gary Stevens
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Moon
Transits Mars 月掩火星 (24/7/2003)
之前提過火星快要在幾萬年內最接近地球，有興趣的記住一看。當一顆星在另一顆星前面經過時，背後那顆星會被前面的星掩蓋了，這個天文現象叫掩星。認得出圖中的是什麼嗎？無錯，是月球和火星。由於火星越來越大了，所以月掩火看起來很壯觀。這次掩星發生的日期是上星期四，但只有美洲才看到。
Caption::
What was that bright "star" near the Moon last week? Mars of
course, as the Red Planet wandered near the waning gibbous Moon early
last Thursday morning, passing behind the lunar orb when viewed from some
locations in South and Central America, the Caribbean, and Florida. The
Clay Center Observatory expedition to Bonita Springs, Florida produced
this evocative picture of Mars grazing the Moon's dark edge by digitally
stacking and processing a series of telescopic images of the event. With
the cratered Moon in the foreground, the bright planet Mars seems alarmingly
close, its global scale features and white south polar cap easily visible.
Already impressive, the apparent size of the martian disk will continue
to grow in the coming weeks, until, on August 27, Mars reaches its closest
approach to planet Earth in over 50,000 years.
Credit::
Ron Dantowitz, Clay Center Observatory at Dexter and Southfield Schools
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