Caption: 2022年國際天文學聯合會（IAU）OAE天文攝影比賽靜態天體圖案類別榮譽獎作品。 這張照片於2016年3 月在印度尼西亞爪哇島的婆羅摩騰格塞梅魯國家公園拍攝，展現了銀河形成的拱橋和許多突出的星座，包括了夜空中最顯著的亮星。 在照片左下角，我們可以看到南門二和馬腹一，前者較低，後者較高，都位於的巨大的半人馬座中。可由它們的指引找到南十字座，南十字座的長軸指向南天極，而南天極大致位於地平線上，這是因為爪哇島幾乎位於赤道上。南十字座幾乎完全被雲層遮擋，照片中只能看到四顆明亮的星星。而南船座中的恆星組成的贗十字星群，在稍遠處的銀河上方也明顯可見，容易使人混淆。 真正的南十字座和贗十字星群之間的粉紅色斑點是船底座星雲，距離地球約8500光年，位於船底座，肉眼看不到。在船底座，我們還可以看到夜空中第二亮的恆星——老人星，它就在銀河和地面道路之間。 更亮的是天狼星，夜空中最亮的恆星。天狼星位於大犬座，大犬座是獵戶座的兩隻獵犬之一。獵戶座在照片的右半部分，地平線附近雲層的上方。獵戶座的腰帶上有三顆明亮的恆星，其連線左上指向天狼星，右下指向堪堪露出地平線的畢宿五。 獵戶座包含了天空中最亮的幾顆恆星，是色彩最豐富的星座，因為它擁有參宿七——銀河下方靠右的一顆藍色亮星，以及參宿四——參宿七右上方較高位置的一顆紅色亮星。在它們之間，三顆恆星組成了著名的星群——獵戶座腰帶。獵戶座大星雲就在獵戶座腰帶旁邊，這是一個恆星形成區，其明亮的中心即便用肉眼看也清晰可見，在這張照片中也是如此清晰。 在參宿四的上方，銀河的另一側，可以看到明亮的南河三，其英文名稱Procyon的字面意思是”在狗之前“。在希臘神話中，它被看作由單顆恆星組成的星群，是與獵戶座相伴的小獵犬，後來演變成了現代的小犬座。 在照片右上角，巨蟹座的蜂巢星團很容易辨認。在其下方，可以看到雙子座的北河二和北河三，它們在這張照片中並不顯眼。與之形成鮮明對比的是，御夫座的明亮白色恆星五車二，在照片右邊緣中部的雲層中閃閃發光。 在地面道路周圍可以看到一些光汙染。
Credit: Giorgia Hofer/IAU OAE

Caption: Winner in the 2022 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Still images of celestial patterns.   Taken in Romania in August 2012, this image shows two of the most recognisable constellations in the sky, Orion and Taurus. Orion, the Hunter, is found near the horizon. The most prominent star visible in this image is Betelgeuse, while the asterism of Orion’s belt is formed by three aligned bright stars. Just above Orion we can find Taurus, one of the constellations of the Zodiac. As the Zodiac is inherited from Babylon, The Bull of Heaven represents a mighty but dangerous creature that was defeated by King Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu. They cut the Bull in half and sacrificed the animal to the gods in order to protect their people. Taurus is also home to the star cluster Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters. Two planets are visible: Venus, the bright spot near the fence, and Jupiter, the bright spot at the top, next to the Bull’s face. Different cultures have included the stars of these constellations in their own mythology. The Romanians, for instance, after Christianisation identified four other constellations using some of the stars of Orion and others surrounding it. One such constellation is called Trisfetitele (the Three Saints), which is associated with the three stars comprising Orion's Belt, representing the Three Hierarchs Basil, Gregory and John. This same asterism is also called Three Wise Men, Kings from the East or just Three Kings — all of these names being rooted in the Christian religion. The agricultural calendar, in contrast, led farmers to define two other constellations, the Little Plough and the Sickle. Both are seen in the southern half of the Orion rectangle; the Little Plough is drawn by connecting the southern quadrilateral with Orion’s left shoulder, and the Sickle is formed by connecting Orion’s left foot (Rigel) with the belt stars, forming an arch and completing the form of a hoe. In the cultural calendar, these constellations were used to announce the harvest of wheat/grain. Finally, the fourth Romanian constellation is the Great Auger, where Orion’s belt represents the handle of the auger, and Betelgeuse is the tip, facing towards Pollux in Gemini. This constellation is associated with treasure, as Romanian peasants believe that the Auger points to the treasure when they approach the end of the world. Most of the official star names in Orion are Arabic; Mintaka (meaning “belt”) is at the waist; Alnitak (meaning “girdle”) and Alnilam (meaning “string”) are at the belt; and Rigel (meaning foot) is at the left foot. The star on the left shoulder is named Bellatrix, the Latin term for a female warrior. The star at the right leg is called Saiph, for the sword or sabre of the Arabic Orion.
Credit: Alex Conu/IAU OAE

Caption: 這張照片於2022年12月13日用智能手機拍攝，記錄下了雲南藍月谷上空一顆雙子座流星劃過夜空的瞬間，以玉龍雪山的寧靜景緻為背景，呈現出令人屏息的美景。雙子座流星雨因其耀眼的亮度和鮮豔的色彩而聞名，是最壯觀的流星雨之一，其起源於小行星3200法厄同。每年，當地球穿越法厄同的碎片軌跡時，塵埃和岩石碎片在大氣層中氣化，形成了這一壯麗的雙子座流星雨。在這幅令人驚嘆的夜空影像中，雙子座的雙星（北河二和北河三）被左側樹木的剪影遮擋。靜謐湖面映照出獵戶座的群星，獵戶座星座從畫面中央下方逐漸升起，而紅色的火星依然明亮，成為畫面中最耀眼的天體燈塔。這一切發生在月出之前，為這一幕增添了更多的神祕和壯麗。
Credit: 戴建峰/國際天文學聯合會教育辦公室 (CC BY 4.0)

Caption: 獵戶座及其明亮的恆星和周圍的星座。獵戶座被金牛座、波江座、天兔座、麒麟座和雙子座環繞（從上往下順時針依次排列）。獵戶座最亮的恆星參宿四和參宿七分別位於星座的北端（圖中上部）和南端（圖中下部），中間是著名的三星 "腰帶"。 獵戶座橫跨天赤道，因此在一年中的某些時候，從地球上的任何地方都能看到它。在世界上最北極或最南極地區，可能看不到獵戶座的某些部分。獵戶座在北半球冬季和南半球夏季的晚上最為明顯。獵戶座上方的藍線標誌著黃道，即太陽在一年中劃過天空的軌跡。太陽從不經過獵戶座，但人們偶爾會在獵戶座發現太陽系的其他行星和月球。 在獵戶座腰帶的正南方，有兩個梅西葉天體M42（獵戶座星雲）和M43，用綠色方框標出。這些星雲和M78（腰帶左邊的綠色方框）是巨大的獵戶座分子雲團的一部分。它覆蓋了獵戶座的大部分區域，包括這些分子雲正在坍縮形成新星的區域。 該圖的 y 軸表示赤緯，單位為度數，以北為上，x 軸表示赤經，單位為小時，以東為左。這裡標注的恆星大小與恆星的視星等有關，視星等是衡量恆星視亮度的標準。較大的點代表較亮的恆星。希臘字母表示星座中的亮星。這些恆星按亮度排序，最亮的恆星被標記為α星，第二亮的為β星，等等，不過並不總是完全遵循這種排序。圍繞著參宿四的圓圈表示它是一顆變星。虛線是國際天文學聯合會劃定的星座邊界，綠色實線是表示星座的常用形式之一。星座邊界和連接恆星的線條都不會出現在實際天空中。
Credit: 由國際天文學聯合會天文教育辦公室根據國際天文學聯合會/《天空與望遠鏡》的原文改編

Caption: The constellation Taurus along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Taurus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Perseus, Aries, Cetus, Eridanus, Orion, Gemini and Auriga. Taurus’s brightest star Aldebaran appears in the middle of the constellation. Taurus 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 Taurus from mid May to late June. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Taurus. Taurus lies mostly north of the celestial equator with a small part in the celestial southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is visible at some point in the year to whole planet except for the Antarctic and a small region around the North Pole. Taurus is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. In the eastern part of Taurus we can find the supernova remnant M1 (commonly known as the Crab Nebula), marked here with a green square. In Taurus’s north-east find one of the sky’s most famous open stars clusters M45 (the Pleiades), marked here with a yellow circle. Many of the stars near Aldebaran (but not) Aldebaran are members of another star cluster, the Hyades. However this cluster is close to the solar system so is too dispersed on the sky to have a Messier object designation like the Pleiades has. 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 IAU/Sky & Telescope

Caption: The zodiac constellation Cancer and its surrounding constellations. Starting from the top of the diagram and going clockwise, these are Lynx, Gemini, Canis Minor, Hydra, Leo and Leo Minor. The ecliptic (shown here as a blue line) passes almost exactly through the middle of the constellation, this is the path the Sun appears to take across the sky over the course of a year. The Sun is in Cancer from late July to mid August. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Cancer. Cancer lies just north of the celestial equator and is thus visible at some time in the year from all of planet Earth except for the most antarctic regions of the world. Cancer is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn. Two star clusters are visible in Cancer: M44, an open cluster often called the Beehive Cluster, and M46, a denser open cluster with about four times more stars than M44. These clusters are indicated by yellow circles with a dotted border on the map. 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 labelled 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 IAU/Sky & Telescope

Caption: The zodiac constellation Gemini and its surrounding constellations. Starting from the top of the diagram and going clockwise, these are Auriga, Taurus, Lynx, Orion, Monoceros, Canis Minor and Cancer. The brightest stars in Gemini, Castor and Pollux appear in the upper lefthand corner (north-east) of the diagram. In Greek mythology, the stars in this constellation are thought to resemble twins with their arms wrapped around each other, with Castor and Pollux indicating their heads. Gemini 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 Gemini from late June to late July. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Gemini. Gemini lies north of the celestial equator and is visible in all but the antarctic regions of the world. Gemini is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. Just to the right of the foot of the Castor twin is an open cluster of stars (labelled as a yellow circle with a dotted line border), Messier 35, also known as the Shoe-Buckle Cluster. This cluster is spread out over an area roughly the size of the full moon. In addition to this cluster of stars, there is a planetary nebula (labelled as a green circle with four radial spikes) – NGC 2392 – near the celestial equator and just to the left of the Pollux twin. Two variable stars (Mekbuda and Propus; labelled as two concentric circles) can be found in the “legs” of each twin, but are so faint that an observer would need dark skies to see them. 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 labelled 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 IAU/Sky & Telescope

Caption: The constellation Auriga with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Auriga is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Camelopardalis, Perseus, Taurus, Gemini and Lynx. Capella, the brightest star in Auriga, is the sixth brightest star in the night sky. As a northern constellation, Auriga is visible from the whole of the northern hemisphere at some point in the year. The whole of the constellation is visible to equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere with parts of it visible to temperate southern regions. The whole constellation is circumpolar from arctic regions. The constellation is best viewed in the evening in the late northern hemisphere winter and late southern hemisphere summer. Auriga lies in the plane of the Milky Way and thus hosts a number of open clusters. Of these M36, M37 and M38 are marked on this diagram with yellow circles. IC 405, also known as the flaming star nebula, is marked here with a green square. 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. The blue line at the bottom of the diagram marks the ecliptic.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope