A Path To Orion
影像版權與提供: Andrew Aurigema
Explanation:
The Saturday of December 9, 2006, a Space Shuttle Discovery lit up the night as it climbed into orbit above planet Earth. From Oak Hill, Florida, USA - about 30 miles north of the Kennedy Space Center - design engineer Andrew Arigema tracked the shuttle and recorded a four minute time exposure of the exhaust plume along Discovery's path against the background of the starry sky. At the upper left, the end of the drifting plume is punctuated by Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka in a vertical line, the belt stars of Orion. To the right of the belt stars, the pinkish jewel in Orion's sword is not a star at all, but the great Orion Nebula. Still farther to the right, at the foot of the hunter, lies Rigel, the brightest star in view. Rigel is a hot supergiant star some 700 light-years in the distance.
說明:
2006年12月9日，在發射進入軌道的過程中，發現者號太空梭照亮了夜空。在甘迺迪太空中心北方約50公里的美國．佛羅里達州Oak Hill附近，設計工程師Andrew Arigema追蹤此次太空梭發射，並記錄了曝光時間長達四分鐘的發現號太空梭氣尾與背景恆星之星空影像。在影像的左上端，飄揚的煙塵像是被垂直排列的獵戶座腰帶星參宿一、參宿二、參宿三給截斷。腰帶星右方的粉紅色珍寳並不是恆星，而是獵戶座大星雲。在更往右獵人腳部的參宿七，是視野中最明亮的恆星。參宿七是一顆離我們約為七百光年遠的熾熱超巨星。譯注： Alnitak 參宿一、 Alnilam 參宿二、Mintaka 參宿三、Rigel 參宿七。
資料來源: Scientific American
Department of Physics, NCKU
