Caption: 2021 年国际天文学联合会 OAE 天体摄影比赛广域星野类第一名。 这张照片拍摄的是北半球最突出、最著名的星群之一--北斗七星（Big Dipper）或犁星（Plough）。该星宿是希腊神话中大熊座的一部分。 北斗七星由七（八）颗恒星组成，从图像的中心向右延伸。形成斗勺“杯部”的四颗星呈梯形，就在图像右侧最高的树的上方。这四颗星分别是右上方的天枢（Dubhe）、右下方的天璇（Merak）、左上方的天玑（Megrez）和左下方的天权（Phecda）。形成斗柄的三（或四）颗星位于梯形的左侧，依次是从右到左的玉衡（Alioth）、开阳（Mizar）和摇光（Alkaid）。仔细观察开阳，可以看到它左上方紧邻着一颗较小的星星。这颗星就是开阳增一（Alcor），开阳和辅星共同构成裸眼可见的双星系统。然而，通过非常精确的观测发现，开阳实际上是一个四星系统，而辅星是一个双星系统。尽管这些恒星的名字源自阿拉伯语命名体系，但不同的文化都有自己的恒星名称。 在世界各地的不同文化中，这个星宿与不同的物体相关联，此外，一些土著文化还将单独的星星与特定的故事联系起来。星座除了承载着不同文化的传说和神话外，还是重要的导航 "工具"。例如，天枢（Dubhe）和天璇（Merak）两颗星可以用来找到北极星（Polaris）（本图中未显示）。鉴于北斗七星与北半球的关系，以及它是一个拱极星座（从不落在地平线以下），阿拉斯加州旗上使用了北斗七星和北极星。 值得注意的是，虽然星座中的恒星（除了开阳和开阳增一的多恒星系统外）看起来彼此 "相邻"，但实际上这些恒星与地球和彼此间的距离是非常不同的。
Credit: Alex Conu/IAU OAE

Caption: 2022年国际天文学联合会（IAU）OAE天文摄影比赛静态天体图案类别荣誉奖作品。 这张照片2021年5月拍摄于印度乌杜皮，显示了大熊座中最亮的七颗星。这个星群被古巴比伦人视为一驾马车，这很可能启发了古希腊诗人阿拉托斯在训诲诗中将其视为战车。而古希腊人通常将这七颗星与更广阔的天区中许多更暗的恒星一起构成一个星座，视为一只大母熊。 在古埃及，这七颗星组成的图案被视作公牛前腿或公牛大腿，被认为是塞特神腿的一部分。塞特神被认为是两兄弟中邪恶的一个，他谋杀了自己的哥哥奥西里斯神（有时被认为是埃及第一位国王）。他们深爱的妹妹把散落的尸体碎片拼凑在一起，使奥西里斯复活。为了防止塞特继续作恶，这条腿被一根销子钉在了天上。 这七颗明亮的恒星被中国古代贵族称为“北斗”，行使着审判的职责。它在法语和荷兰语中被称为“汤锅”，在德语中被称为“战车”，在英国英语中被称为“犁”，在美国英语中被称为“大勺子”。在北美纳瓦霍人的传说中，北斗七星有着男性形象，被认为是所有星辰和人类的父亲，据说他是仙后座对应的母神的丈夫。同样，在北欧神话中，它被称为“男人之车”，和小熊座中的“女人之车”并列。在其他一些北方文化，例如因纽特人和西伯利亚人的传说中，这个星群被解释为驼鹿，而萨米人在这里看到的是法夫德纳的弓和箭。相比之下，在南半球，并非所有文化都将其命名，因为它总是要么靠近地平线，要么看不见。例如，巴西的图卡诺人称它为“蛇的大肛门”；而在萨摩亚，它是“祖传战棍”的一部分。 夏威夷人也将其用于航海，并称之为“七星”，而马其顿传统则将其解释为“七贼”。在意大利的星象传说中，它在罗马被称为“七牛”，在撒丁岛被称为“七兄弟”。同样，蒙古的传统说法是“七佛”，而印度人则称之为“七圣”。
Credit: Arya Anthony/IAU OAE

Caption: 2022年国际天文学联合会（IAU）OAE天文摄影比赛静态天体图案类别获奖作品。 这张照片是于2018年12月在日本长野拍摄的，展示了三个突出的星座：天鹰座（左下方）、天鹅座（正上方）和天琴座（右下方）。这些星座中最亮的恒星（牛郎星、天津四和织女星）构成了被称为“夏季大三角”的星群的三个顶点。牛郎是照片左下方最亮的恒星，天津四是照片右上方最亮的恒星，织女星是照片右下方最亮的恒星。 在亚洲文化中，织女星和牛郎星代表着天庭的织女和人间的牛郎之间的爱情故事，他们被微弱的银河光带分开，仅在七月被允许跨越这条天河相见。 澳大利亚维多利亚州东北部的布戎人将织女星每年隐没在太阳光辉后的重新出现与斑眼冢雉筑巢的时间联系在一起。布戎人还将他们的土著星座Neilloan与Mallee-hen女神（织女星）联系在一起，她是创造了墨累河的英雄Totyarguil（牛郎星）的母亲。在瓦达曼人的传统中，织女星是亡灵通往银河的门户。 牛郎星的英文名称Altair是阿拉伯语“Al-Nasr Al-Ta'ir”的缩写，意为“飞鹰”，这证明天鹰座是历史上最稳定的星座之一。天鹰座起源于巴比伦时代，留下了携带国王飞向天空的传说，后被希腊人、罗马人和阿拉伯人继承。天津四的英文名称Deneb来自阿拉伯语“dhanab”，意为“尾巴”，其所在的星座在古希腊被看作一只鸟，在古罗马的传统中被解释为天鹅（即现代的天鹅座），而在阿拉伯世界中则被解释为母鸡。织女星的英文名称“Vega”来自阿拉伯语"Al-Nasr Al-Waqi“，意为”俯冲的鹰“，因为在伊斯兰教诞生前的阿拉伯土著文化中，被视为鹰的星座除天鹰座外其实还有一个，它所在的天区正是希腊的天琴座。在近代早期，一些基督教天文学家受阿拉伯传统的启发，将天琴座描绘成一只手持琴的鹰或秃鹫。 这张照片还显示了一系列其他星座，包括海豚座、天箭座和狐狸座。在希腊神话中，天箭座代表着光明之神和生育女神。在冬季，它们在傍晚落下；但在春季，它们又在东方升起，而且出现的时间越来越长，祝福着土地硕果累累，农业取得丰收。
Credit: Kouij Ohnishi/IAU OAO

Caption: 2022年 IAU OAE 天文摄影大赛荣誉提名作品（静态摄影组） 本影像摄于2019年11月泰国清迈因他暖山国家公园（Doi Inthanon National Park），呈现了北天标志性星座——呈"M"字形的仙后座（Cassiopeia）。尽管该星座官方名称源自希腊神话王后"卡西俄珀亚"（Kasseipeia）的拉丁化称谓，但这五颗亮星在全球多文化语境中被赋予不同意象：在泰国被视为蝙蝠，在夏威夷则称为'Iwa Keli'i（首席军舰鸟）。 北美纳瓦霍人将其视为"众星与人类之天母"的核心，与象征"天父"的大熊星座共同环绕天极运行。玛雅文明将其纳入巨型星座"鳄鱼背洞"，而因纽特人则解读为油灯架与鲸脂罐。 中国古代将"M"形左下亮星对应神话中驭四马的战将王良，四马由后续笔画中的两明两暗四星（自左上延伸至中下部）象征。其余两亮星及周边暗星则构成北极紫微垣旁的"阁道"（天界驰道）。 在南太平洋汤加岛，这一星群被称为"塔法希之翼"——其意象争议在于，所指究竟是塔法希岛轮廓，抑或波利尼西亚英雄塔法基（Tafaki）翅膀的误传。 恒星星色差异揭示其表面温度：泛红星体温度相对低于蓝白恒星。
Credit: Thanakrit Santikunaporn/IAU OAE

Caption: 2022年国际天文学联合会天文教育办公室天文摄影大赛获奖作品，类别：天体图案静态图像。 这张照片的构图令人惊叹。在远处的风景背景中，我们看到一连串的山脉，似乎与上方天空中的银河结构相映成趣。风景中强烈的日光般的色彩是由图像顶部的亮光——月亮造成的。 这张照片拍摄于2019年2月的马来西亚基纳巴卢山，展示了行星与月亮的排列，传达了黄道作为黄道带中心线的概念，黄道是行星绕太阳运行的平面。黄道是黄道带的中心线，因此黄道两侧约5到10度的区域是黄道带星座的所在地。从图像左下方的地平线开始，我们可以看到金星、土星和木星。这些行星对世界各地的人们有着不同的文化意义，并深深地扎根于社会、宗教和实际生活中。例如，澳大利亚土著瓦达曼人的传统将行星与穿越天路（黄道）的祖先灵魂联系在一起。行星在天空中的出现和消失与各种仪式相关。例如，当金星从“昏星”变为“晨星”时，这标志着澳大利亚阿纳姆地的尤努族人的巴努比尔仪式。 这张图片还展示了天蝎座、天鹰座、豺狼座和南三角座，以及茶壶星群和两颗指针星——半人马座α星和β星。这些星座、星群及其中的个别恒星在许多不同文化中都具有重要意义。 马来西亚靠近赤道，与北方和南方都有联系，几乎全年都能看到整个天空。西沙漠的科卡塔人将心宿二视为Kogolongo，即红尾黑凤头鹦鹉，而布龙族则称其为Djuit，即红腰鹦鹉。形成天蝎座尾刺的两颗星（尾宿八和尾宿九）被称为Karik Karik，即澳大利亚红隼。
Credit: Likai Lin/IAU OAU

Caption: The constellation Sagittarius along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Sagittarius is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Aquila, Scutum, Serpens Cauda, Ophiuchus, Scorpius, Corona Australis, Telescopium, Microscopium and Capricornus. The brighter stars in Sagittarius form a distinctive teapot shape. Sagittarius lies on the ecliptic (shown here as a blue line), this is the path the Sun appears to take across the sky over the course of a year. The Sun is in Sagittarius from mid December to mid January. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Sagittarius. Sagittarius lies south of the celestial equator. The famous teapot asterism is visible for all but the most arctic regions of the world but the most southerly parts of the constellation are not visible in northern parts of Asia, Europe and North America. Sagittarius is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* which lies at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy is sits on the western (here right-hand) edge of Sagittarius. Due to it covering an area at the center of our Galaxy, Sagittarius is home to many star clusters including open clusters (marked here with yellow circles) and globular clusters (marked here with yellow circles with + signs superimposed on them). Three nebulae are also marked here with green squares. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by IAU/Sky & Telescope

Caption: 大熊座及其明亮恒星与周边星座示意图。从顶部开始沿顺时针方向，大熊座周边的星座依次为：天龙座、鹿豹座、天猫座、小狮座、狮子座、后发座、猎犬座和牧夫座。大熊座中有着名为“北斗七星”的醒目星群，这也是大熊座最著名的标志。这个醒目的北天星群在全球不同文化中拥有丰富多样的名称。尽管大多数星座和星群中的恒星是互不关联的，它们在天球上投影出的图案其实仅是出于巧合，但北斗七星中的五颗恒星同属“大熊座移动星群”——这些恒星在宇宙中同步运动，很可能在3亿年前形成于同一区域。图中北斗右侧末端的两颗星构成“指极星”，可由它们的连线找到位于小熊座的北极星。 作为北天星座，大熊座在北半球和赤道地区都是可见的。除南极地区外，南半球的部分区域也可观测到大熊座的局部，但南半球温带地区并不都能看到完整的北斗七星。而在北极和北半球大多数温带地区，北斗七星以及大熊座的其他主要部分则处于恒显圈内。大熊座的最佳观测期为北半球春季与南半球秋季。 大熊座的北部有两个易于观测的星系，在图中以红色椭圆标注：旋涡星系M81和可能同为旋涡星系的M82。由于M82的侧方朝向地球，我们难以通过观测确定其结构。行星状星云M97（猫头鹰星云）位于大熊座中央，在图中以叠加了十字符号的绿色圆圈标注。 该图的纵轴为赤纬，横轴为赤经，方向为上北下南左东右西。图中标注的恒星大小对应其视星等——衡量天体视亮度的标准，较大的圆点代表着较亮的恒星。图中的希腊字母标注着星座中最亮的恒星。这些恒星按亮度排序，最亮的一般被标记为α星，第二亮的一般为β星，等等，不过这种字母排序并不总是和实际亮度排序完全一致。图中虚线标注的是国际天文学联合会划定的星座边界，绿色实线则是一种常见的星座形象连线。需要注意的是，在实际观测时，这些边界与连线都不会出现在天空中。
Credit: 国际天文学联合会天文教育办公室（IAU OAE）根据国际天文学联合会和《天空与望远镜》的原文改编

Caption: The constellation Aquila with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Aquila is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Sagitta, Hercules, Ophiuchus, Serpens Cauda, Scutum, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius and Delphinus. Aquila is most notable for its brightest star Altair. This forms one vertex of the prominent Summer Triangle asterism that is visible in northern hemisphere summer evenings. Aquila spans the celestial equator and thus some part of it is visible from all of the Earth at some point in the year. It is most visible in the evenings in the late northern hemisphere summer and late southern hemisphere winter. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. The blue line in the lower right of the diagram is the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by IAU/Sky & Telescope

Caption: The constellation Cygnus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Cygnus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Cepheus, Draco, Lyra, Vulpecula, Pegasus and Lacerta. Cygnus is notable for its brightest star Deneb. This forms one vertex of the prominent Summer Triangle asterism that is visible in northern hemisphere summer evenings. Cygnus is a northern constellation and thus the whole of the constellation is visible at some point in the year in the whole northern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible from temperate southern regions. The plane of the Milky Way runs through Cygnus and thus the constellation is rich in nebulae and star clusters. These include the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) and the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888). The Veil Nebula is a huge supernova remnant, parts of which are marked here as NGC 6960 and NGC 6992/5. All of the previously-mentioned nebulae are marked with green squares. The planetary nebula NGC 6826 is marked here with a green circle superimposed on a plus sign. The open star clusters M29 and M39 are marked here with yellow circles. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

Caption: The constellation Pegasus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Pegasus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Lacerta, Cygnus, Vulpecula, Delphinus, Equuleus, Aquarius, Pisces and Andromeda. Pegasus is known for the prominent asterism the “Square of Pegasus” which consists of its three brightest stars plus the brightest star in Andromeda. Pegasus is a northern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the northern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible to southern hemisphere equatorial and temperate zones with parts of the constellation visible from all but the most antarctic regions. Pegasus is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring. The globular cluster M15 lies in Pegasus and is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. The spiral galaxy NGC 7331 also lies in Pegasus and is marked here with a red ellipse. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. The blue line at the bottom of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars, nor the ecliptic, appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope