Copyright:
David Lane &
R. Gendler (3 insets)
原文:
Which is older — the rocks you see on the ground or the light you see from the sky? Usually it�s the rocks that are older, with their origin sediments deposited well before light left any of the stars or nebulas you see in the sky. However, if you can see, through a telescope, a distant galaxy far across the universe — further than Andromeda or spiral galaxy NGC 7331 (inset) — then you are seeing light even more ancient. Featured here, the central disk of our Milky Way Galaxy arches over Toadstool hoodoos rock formations in northern Arizona, USA. The unusual Toadstool rock caps are relatively hard sandstone that wind has eroded more slowly than the softer sandstone underneath. The green bands are airglow, light emitted by the stimulated air in Earth’s atmosphere. On the lower right is a time-lapse camera set up to capture the sky rotating behind the picturesque foreground scene.
中文翻譯:
在地面上你所見的岩石和來自天空的光，哪一個更古老呢？通常是岩石更古老，因為它們的起源沉積物早在任何星星或星雲的光離開之前就已經沉積。然而，如果你能通過望遠鏡看到一個遙遠的星系，超越仙女座或螺旋星系NGC 7331，那麼你看到的光會更加古老。這幅圖片展示了我們的銀河系中心圓盤高懸於美國亞利桑那州北部的蘑菇石柱（Toadstool hoodoos）岩石結構上方。這些不尋常的蘑菇岩帽是相對堅硬的砂岩，其風化速度比下面更柔軟的砂岩慢。綠色條帶是地球大氣層中被刺激的空氣發出的光，即空氣發光（airglow）。下右角是一台定時拍攝的相機，設置用來捕捉天空在美麗前景場景背後旋轉的瞬間。
#古老的光 #蘑菇石柱 #銀河系 #星空 #夜空攝影 #亞利桑那州 #空氣發光 #宇宙的奧秘 #時間流逝 #探索自然
來源:NASA每日圖片
