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: 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。 這張照片展示了年輕的月牙，其右側是昴星團中的九顆最亮的恆星（其中一顆被雲層遮擋）。照片中央是水星，看上去略帶紅色。 這幅圖片更傾向於表明昴星團可能由七顆星組成。然而，觀察者被雲層誤導了——五顆星組成了一輛小戰車，一顆緊挨著車把，另外三顆在四邊形的另一端。如果沒有雲層，八顆星將清晰可見。 蛾眉月與昴星團相伴的這種天象僅在北半球的春天才能看到。因此，古巴比倫人利用它來確定一年中的第二個月，並判斷是否需要閏月。至少早在公元前第二個千年，巴比倫人就利用多個星群來確定月份。每隔五天，下一個星群就會在隱沒於日光後再次出現。為了確定閏年的必要性，使太陽年和陰曆年同步，巴比倫人使用了多個星群，而不僅僅是昴星團。例如，他們還利用了明亮的心宿二和天狼星，並觀測到了它們伴月的天象以及偕日昇的天象。現代猶太教和現代伊斯蘭教仍在遵循傳統，使用巴比倫的一些天文規則。然而，鑑於星座由於歲差而發生了移動，而且如今我們也有了計算曆法的手段，這種蛾眉月和昴星團相伴的天象就不再那麼有用了，儘管它依然如此優美。因此，古巴比倫和中巴比倫的傳統僅存留了基本的形式。此外，長期以來一直聲稱青銅時代歐洲的內布拉星盤上描繪了這種天象，但這種說法不太可能屬實。 本照片於2022年5月在意大利厄爾巴島拍攝。
Credit: Giulio Colombo/ IAU OAE

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2021年10 月在埃及西奈半島聖凱瑟琳的達爾艾德拍攝，展示了昴星團——一個被俗稱“七姐妹星”的疏散星團。 昴星團位於金牛座的西北部。金牛座源自古巴比倫人甚至蘇美爾人的信仰，它被當時的人們稱為天牛，是天神所擁有的強大生物。在巴比倫晚期，昴星團被稱為“牛背上的鬃毛”。在中國，這個星宿也被稱為“毛髮”（譯者注：其實“昴”並沒有“毛髮”的含義，可能僅僅是其讀音與“毛”相似，使作者產生了誤解），但這並不一定意味著東亞和西亞對這個星宿的稱呼有任何聯繫，儘管有人假設這兩個文明通過絲綢之路的建立而進行了交流。 在古巴比倫的文獻中，並沒有出現將昴星團稱為“毛髮”的記載。相反，昴星團在蘇美爾語中被稱為“星團”，而蘇美爾語中的這個詞被後來的語言作為借詞所引入。蘇美爾和巴比倫早期的宗教將所有星座與特定的神靈聯繫在一起，包括天神、惡魔、神使。昴星團與一位被稱為“七”的冥界神靈有關，被認為是七種會說話的武器或全副武裝的神靈的集合體。後來希臘人將其命名為“七姐妹星”，可能是源於不同文化間對這一古老宗教聯繫的誤解，因為事實上並不能在這個星團中看到七顆星。 昴星團在天空中確實非常顯眼，因此被用於多種文化目的，如確定曆法和春分。然而，在文化天文學中，它的重要性經常被誇大。由於用七個圓點表示昴星團的傳統源於古代蘇美爾信仰，因此將石器時代以來歐洲、亞洲和美洲的洞穴牆壁和考古遺址上的七個圓點解釋為昴宿星團時，我們應該慎重起見。 現代天體物理學發現，昴星團非常年輕，因此在古代肯定沒有額外的恆星。此外，我們還知道，昴星團中所見的明亮恆星只是整個疏散星團的核心區域，該星團其實由散布在天空中的數百顆恆星組成，在任何方向的延展尺度都超過明亮核心的一到兩個直徑。這張照片甚至沒有顯示出整個星團。昴星團距離地球大約400光年，從天文學的角度來說是比較近的。
Credit: Mohamed Usama/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: 這幅照片捕捉到了火星的天體華爾茲，它在固定恆星的背景下展示了引人入勝的逆行運動。火星在其軌道上出現逆行現象，是由於地球和火星繞太陽運行的速度不同。地球的運動速度較快，偶爾會領先於火星，從我們的角度看去，就會產生這顆紅色星球發生了逆行運動的錯覺。當火星和太陽分別位於地球的兩側，即所謂的“火星沖日”時，這種逆行運動就會發生。從2022年8月14日到2023年4月5日，智能手機拍攝的這幅火星圖像見證了攝影師在菲律賓巴丹的寧靜環境中的堅持不懈和精益求精。攝影師經歷著變幻莫測的天氣和不斷變化的天體排列，每隔五到八天就精心拍攝一次。在整個過程中，攝影師沒有使用任何外部鏡頭或望遠鏡拍攝到了35幅不同的火星圖像，並需要將它們與一幅展現了廣袤星空的背景圖像進行對齊。這幅背景圖像由54幀疊加而成，每幀曝光15秒。融合這些圖像需要對它們進行精確對齊，並對火星進行裁剪，以便使其位置居中，從而在星空背景下顯示火星的逆行。這一復雜的過程通過遮罩將圖像完美無縫地融入背景，突出了火星獨特的運動軌跡。在圖像的右下角，可以看到昴星團。
Credit: Rob Kerby Guevarra/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)

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