Saturn in the Hive
影像提供: Jean-Luc Dauvergne, Erick Bondoux
Explanation:
M44 is popularly known as the Beehive star cluster. In fact, with a pair of binoculars most casual skygazers should find it fairly easy to zero in on this celestial scene. Saturn is at opposition - opposite the Sun in Earth's sky - so, the bright planet rises in the east at sunset and is visible throughout the night. Near the stationary part of its wandering path through the heavens, Saturn will obligingly linger for a while in the vicinity of M44 in the relatively faint constellation Cancer. Seen here in a photograph from January 25, Saturn (lower right) is strongly overexposed with the stars of M44 swarming above and to the left. The picture approximately corresponds to the view when looking through a typical pair of binoculars. Saturn is about 64 light-minutes from our fair planet while M44, one of the closest star clusters, is around 600 light-years away.
說明:
M44更大眾化的名稱是蜂巢星團 (Beehive star cluster)或稱鬼宿星團。如有雙筒望遠鏡之助，連一般的觀星人都能很輕易找到這個星野。現在的土星位在衝的位置，或者說在地球的天空中，土星位在和太陽相反的位置，所以這顆明亮的行星在日落時從東方昇起，且整晚都能看見。在運行到它天空遊歷的穩定區後，土星會在昏暗巨蟹座的鬼星團附近停留一段時間。這張在1月25日拍攝的影像裡，影像右下端的土星嚴重過度曝 光，而M44則位在它的上方與左方。這張照片的視野和常見的雙筒望遠鏡相當。土星離我們美麗的地球有64光分，而M44則是離我們最近的星團之一，距離約有600光年遠。
資料來源: Scientific American
Department of Physics, NCKU
