Caption: 2022 年國際天文學聯合會 OAE 天體攝影比賽第二名，類別：天體圖案的時間流逝。 天狼星是夜空中最亮的恆星，它時而升起，時而落下，時而掠過。有時還能看到獵戶座、金牛座和昴星團等星座和小行星。在第一個場景中，上述星座被半透明的金色面紗遮住。接下來的場景中，它在深藍色的夜空中升起。在其中一個場景中，一顆行星明亮地點綴著暗淡的雙魚座。 這些視頻是在地球上各種景觀和文化遺產的上空拍攝的。其中一些只是簡單地展示了沙漠中的古蹟，而另一些則展示了揮舞著樹葉的棕櫚樹。 2022年IAU OAE天文攝影大賽天體運動時間序列類別二等獎 天狼星是夜空中最亮的恆星，照片中展現了它的升起、落下及穿越天空的軌跡。有時還能看到星座和星群，包括獵戶座、金牛座和昴星團。在第一場景中，這些星座被半透明的金色薄霧籠罩。接下來的場景展示了它在深藍色夜空中升起的情景。在其中一個場景中，一顆明亮的行星點綴在微弱的雙魚座星群中。 這些視頻取景於地球上的多種自然景觀和文化遺址。一些畫面展示了沙漠中的歷史遺跡，而另一些則拍攝了帶有搖曳棕櫚樹的風景。
Credit: 阿米爾雷扎·卡姆卡爾/國際天文學聯合會教育辦公室

Caption: Winner in the 2022 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Still images of celestial patterns.   This image, taken in Slovakia in January 2022, shows regions of the Milky Way and a rich variety of constellations. The summer constellations of the northern hemisphere are very low in the sky towards the bottom-right. The bright stars of Cygnus and Lyra shine through the artificial lights at the horizon. The huge array of northern winter and autumn constellations with many bright stars are associated with diverse cultural stories. For the Lakota people in North America the belt of the Orion constellation represents the spine of a bison (“Tayamnicankh”). Orion, the Hunter of Greek mythology, is sometimes described chasing the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades. The Arabs transformed this view by considering the follower of the Pleiades only one star instead of a constellation. Aldebaran, the star in the right eye of Taurus, the Bull, comes from this interpretation, because the name Aldebaran derives from al-dabaran, The Follower. At the bottom-right, on the horizon, we can see the milky lightcone of the Zodiacal light stretching from the constellation Pisces through Aries, almost reaching the Pleiades, indicating the path of the planets and the Moon in this area. The Pleiades and the Hyades together form a gate on this path, where the heavenly bodies occasionally pass before entering the Milky Way. The planets were considered sheep in ancient Babylon and the modern constellation Orion was considered the “True Shepherd” of the Sky, with his shepherd’s tool reaching the ecliptic. In Roman tradition, the bright white star above the Pleiades and the Milky Way is called Capella, the Goat, which can be traced back to an Egyptian constellation in this area. Above the treetop in the middle-right part of the image, we see the autumn square, the Andromeda Galaxy and the W-shaped pattern of Cassiopeia. To the left of this group, in the central part of the visible Milky Way, is the constellation Perseus, with Cepheus in the dark area above Cassiopeia completing the celestial family. The Andromeda saga is a Greek story from the area that is now called Israel, and is rooted in Syrian traditions. The location of Andromeda was considered by the ancient Babylonians as the location of the goddess of sexual love, and by the Syrians as the location of the goddess of fertility. According to the saga, Andromeda was chained to a rock at the coast of Jaffa (Tel Aviv) in order to protect her land from a sea monster. The name of the hero who rescued her is Perseus, probably meaning “from Persia” (today’s Iran). Noticeable in the valley are the lights from towns. The yellow light above the horizon indicates larger cities there, which are given away by their light pollution.
Credit: Robert Barsa/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: Winner in the 2022 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Still images of celestial patterns.   Taken near Lake Misurina in the Veneto region of Italy in February 2019, this image shows a clear and starry sky over a winter landscape. We can see part of the Milky Way arc. From the left side, towards the south-east, we see Sirius, "The Burner" in Greek, the brightest star in the night sky. It is part of the constellation Canis Major, The Great Dog, one of the dogs of Orion, the great hunter, in Greek mythology. Orion’s other dog, Canis Minor, the Small Dog, is represented by the bright star Procyon and its fainter neighbours. The Greek star name means “The One [rising] before The Dog” and the star is seen at the top left side of the image just above the arc of the Galaxy. Orion lies to the right of Canis Major. We can spot its characteristic “belt”, an asterism composed of three bright stars aligned in a straight line.  Above the treetops to the right of Orion, the open star clusters of the Hyades and the Pleiades in the constellation Taurus, the Bull, are visible. According to ancient lore, these two clusters form a Celestial Gate directly next to the intersection of the great circles of the ecliptic and the Milky Way. In Greco-Roman mythology, Taurus is associated with the god Zeus who is said to have used a bull to seduce the Phoenician princess Europa. Above the constellation Taurus, we can see a bright star just above the arc of the Galaxy. This is Capella, the brightest star of the constellation Auriga, The Charioteer. This is one of the 88 modern constellations and is associated with the Greek hero Erichthonius of Athens. Hindu astronomy considers Capella as the heart of Brahma, one of the three major gods. The indigenous people of Bororo in Brazil have a constellation representing a cayman, comprising some of the stars of Auriga and some stars from neighbouring constellations. To the right of Taurus, we find the modern constellation Perseus with the bright double star cluster h+chi Perseii, which represents the metal of Perseus’s sabre in Greek mythology. Perseus is the hero who was sent out to prove himself, and happened to rescue Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus as the Roman poet Ovid wrote. We can also see the constellation Cassiopeia, associated with the queen and mother of Andromeda in Greek mythology. It is composed of five bright stars in the shape of a W, which was considered the asterism of The Key by the Greeks according to the poet Aratus. The recognisable shape is also associated with other mythologies: for instance, it represents the princess Sharmishtha in Hindu astronomy, a bat in Thailand, and a camel in native Arabic astronomy. In the gap between the trees, the Andromeda Galaxy is visible.
Credit: Giorgia Hofer/IAU OAE

Caption: 2022 年國際天文學聯合會 OAE 天體攝影比賽“天體圖案靜態圖像”類獲獎作品。 這張拍攝於2021年12月的照片，來自埃及開羅的科塔米亞天文臺（Kottamia Astronomical Observatory），展示了北非最大望遠鏡上方的北半球冬季星空和其中的一些著名星座。 照片展示了獵戶座（位於照片中間的顯眼位置），其腰帶向上指向金牛座的畢宿五（Aldebaran），向下指向大犬座的天狼星（Sirius）。畢宿五是一顆略微發紅的恆星，我們可以看到它位於疏散星團畢星團（照片右上角）的前方，這是金牛座（公牛）臉部的象徵。而那顆明亮的白色恆星是天狼星，夜空中最亮的恆星。它的希臘名字（Seirios）的意思是 "燃燒者"，可以理解為 "最亮的"。 獵戶座在世界各地不同的文化中都有象徵意義。在古埃及宗教中，獵戶座也與一位男性神秖相關聯，即奧西里斯（Osiris）。相傳，奧西里斯被他妒忌的兄弟賽特（Seth）殺害，賽特肢解了屍體，將碎片散布各地。幸運的是，奧西里斯的姐妹兼妻子阿塞特（Aset，希臘語名：Isis）是最強大的女巫和守護母神。她收集了這些身體碎片，將它們重新組合在一起，為奧西里斯重新注入了生命。從照片底部明亮的天狼星週圍的星座圖案中可以看到阿塞特。天狼星（及鄰近區域）在埃及語中被稱為“Sopdet”（希臘語：Sothis）。天狼星在夏季的晨昏升起預示著埃及的新年。 向北看，我們可以發現一顆淡藍色的恆星。這是井宿三（Alhena），它是黃道十二宮雙子座腳下的恆星之一，而雙子座那兩顆明亮的“頭部”星星則位於照片左上方的邊緣之外。在照片的中上部，我們可以看到御夫座中的五車五（Elnath）。這顆星與希臘神話中的英雄厄里克托尼俄斯（Erichthonius）有關，據說他是四馬戰車的發明者。這顆星也被認為是金牛座（Taurus）公牛“上角”的末端。在希臘神話中，金牛座與眾神之王宙斯（Zeus）有關，宙斯曾派他去搶劫一位公主。眾所周知，這個希臘神話故事是為了將巴比倫星座納入希臘神話體系而編織的。在美索不達米亞的《吉爾伽美什史詩》（我們所知的最古老的文學作品之一，可追溯到公元三千年）中，金牛座是“天之公牛”，是一位嫉妒的女神派來的，被烏魯克國王打敗，拯救了他的人民。在天空中，金牛座包含了許多有趣的天體。
Credit: Mohamed Aboushelib/IAU OAE

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 Aries along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Aries is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Triangulum, Pisces, Cetus, Taurus and Perseus. Aries 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 Aries from mid April to mid May. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Aries. Aries 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. Aries is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. 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 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 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

Caption: The constellation Eridanus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Eridanus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Taurus, Cetus, Fornax, Phoenix, Tucana, Hydrus, Horologium, Caelum, Lepus and Orion. Eridanus is a large constellation that spans a wide range in declination. A small portion of the constellation is in the northern hemisphere with the southern-most point lying at a declination of almost -60°. As it spans the celestial equator, parts of the constellation are visible to the whole Earth at some point in the year. The whole constellation can be observed from northern and southern equatorial regions, southern temperate regions and most of Antarctica. Eridanus is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. 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