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獲獎作品。 這張照片2016年7月拍攝於肯尼亞安博塞利國家公園，該公園位於赤道附近。 在北非的埃及神話中，銀河被看作神靈所航行的河流。南非的祖魯人將這種由明暗星雲組成的圖案解釋為一種皮膚黑白相間的動物，而南非的科伊科伊人和桑人則認為它是“星路”。在南非的一些文化中，銀河的拱門是一位母神創造的通往天堂的道路——這是19世紀的早期人類學研究所采納的一個南非創世神話，但這一神話如今已經消失。 在照片的右中部，我們可以看到現代天蠍座中明亮的紅色恆星心宿二。照片左上角邊緣是白色的織女星，開普敦附近的人認為它是雄性的駿馬。 澳大利亞原住民對銀河有很多稱呼。澳大利亞北領地阿納姆地區的約爾努（Yolnu）人稱呼銀河為“Milnguya”，意為“天河”。這張照片中的一個突出圖案與銀河的明暗區域對比有關。 這些暗區是由星際塵埃和氣體組成的低溫緻密雲團，阻擋了其背後恆星發出的光線。其中一個突出的圖案被澳大利亞南部幾個土著民族稱為“Tchingal”，意為“天上的鸸鹋”。鸸鹋的頭部和嘴部（即煤袋星雲）位於南十字座（照片右下角）的左下方，身體和腿部則從南十字座向左延伸。其他原住民群體則將暗區與洞穴或水道聯繫在一起。鸸鹋一年四季的朝向提供了重要的線索，表明什麼時候應該採集鸸鹋蛋，什麼時候鸸鹋蛋開始孵化。在某些月份，當這些銀河暗雲靠近地平線時，人們則認為它們不是鸸鹋，而是兩條匍匐前進的鱷魚。 在銀河系中心的上方，可以清楚地看到黑暗的菸斗星雲的現代形象。銀河上方那顆橙紅色的恆星是天蠍座的心宿二，而菸斗的煙霧可以到達心宿二旁邊色彩斑斕的蛇夫座ρ區域。波隆人把心宿二稱為“Djuit”，意為“紅腰鸚鵡”；而西部沙漠的科卡塔人則把心宿二稱為“Kogolongo”，意為“紅尾黑鳳頭鸚鵡”。 此外，照片中還可以看到一些著名的星座：天鵝座、天鷹座、天琴座、天蠍座、人馬座、南十字座和半人馬座。在南非的一些傳統中，指針星——半人馬座α星（南門二）和β星（馬腹一）偶爾被視為野獸的眼睛。
Credit: Amirreza Kamkar/IAU OAE

Caption: 在 2022 年 IAU OAE 天文攝影大賽中榮獲榮譽提名，類別：天體圖案靜態圖像 這張照片拍攝於 2022 年 1 月的伊拉克南部，展示了該地區眾多古代遺跡之一在晴朗夜空下的景象，該遺跡看起來像一座巴比倫的金字形神塔（Ziggurat）。早在文字發明之前，蘇美爾人就已經建造了這些類似山丘的建築。最早的金字形神塔可追溯至公元前 4000 年左右。它們的外形類似於截頂金字塔，在巴比倫時期，頂部通常建有神廟。在金字形神塔的臺階旁，可以看到黃道帶最南端的星座，這些星座也是由巴比倫人定義的。今天，我們稱它們為摩羯座（左側，有一顆行星位於其中）和人馬座。人馬座中最亮的星星組成了著名的“茶壺”星群。對巴比倫人而言，人馬座代表著神秖 Pabilsag，他是 Larak 城的守護神，同時也是農業與戰爭之神。他還是強大神醫女神 Gula 的丈夫。在巴比倫的神話中，Pabilsag 的形象是一種混合生物，具有人的上半身和頭部，但下半身是四足的馬身，並擁有兩隻巨大翅膀和兩條尾巴——一條馬尾和一條蠍子尾巴。這種生物在希臘神話中並不存在，因此希臘人將其簡化為他們熟悉的形象——一個持弓的半人馬。然而，這個形象在希臘文化中仍然顯得不太合理，因為在希臘神話中，半人馬通常被認為是野蠻、殘暴的生物，不足以使用弓箭。因此，在希臘文化中同時還存在另一個版本的形象：一個雙腿末端長著蹄子的人，即薩梯（Satyr）。然而，這一形象在羅馬時代逐漸消失了。 摩羯座是黃道十二宮中最穩定的外來生物之一，千百年來一直保持不變。它被描繪成一種混合生物，前半部分是山羊，後半部分是魚。因此，這個星座被稱為“山羊魚座”（Goat-Fish）。自巴比倫最早的天文學文獻以來，這一星座就已被確認。在巴比倫宗教中，摩羯座代表一種性情溫和、仁慈的守護神，它保護人類，促進一切治愈過程，並陪伴著智慧與巫術之神。希臘人直接接受了這一形象，並為其創造了神話故事。在羅馬時代，摩羯座變得極為著名，因為羅馬皇帝奧古斯都將其作為個人象徵，並將其鑄刻在錢幣和其他政治宣傳工具上。 在人馬座的範圍內，還能看到銀河系明亮的中央凸起。然而，在這張照片中銀河幾乎不可見，這是現代文明的影響所致。由於地球上大量的人工光源照亮了夜空，使得人類居住區難以看到銀河。
Credit: Ruqayah Mohammed/IAU OAE

Caption: 榮獲 2022 年 IAU OAE 天文攝影大賽冠軍，類別：天體圖案靜態圖像。 這張照片拍攝於 2022 年 5 月，展示了壯麗的銀河帶以及一系列具有文化意義的星空圖案。照片取自拉帕爾馬島 羅克·德·洛斯穆查喬斯天文臺（Roque de los Muchachos Observatory）的一處高海拔位置，從這裡可以俯瞰雲層之下的景象。畫面中突出的星空圖案包括 天蠍座、射手座、天琴座、天鵝座、天鷹座，以及 夏季大三角 和 茶壺星群 等著名星座和星群。 由於加那利群島曾是歐洲水手探索世界的起點，我們借此地來指向他們所遇到的眾多原住民文化。值得注意的是，銀河帶中的黑暗圖案 對世界各地的原住民文化具有重要意義。這些黑暗區域實際上是由緻密、寒冷的氣體和塵埃雲組成，它們遮擋了恆星的光芒。許多原住民文化將這些黑暗區域視作洞穴、水道或各種特定的圖案，與他們的神話和傳統緊密相關。 這些星座和圖案對不同的人有著不同的文化意義和解釋。例如，波利尼西亞人將天蠍座稱為半神毛伊的魚鉤。阿納姆地的約爾努（Yolnu）人將天蠍座與一種叫做 Ingalpir 的鱷魚聯繫在一起。一些澳大利亞原住民部落還將天蠍座中的個別恆星與神話故事相結合，其中最著名的是心宿二，它是圖像右上方銀河帶上方的一顆橙紅色恆星。在天蠍旁邊和明亮的銀河中心上方，有一片顯眼的黑暗星雲，現代天文攝影師稱之為菸斗星雲。這個菸斗吐出的煙霧一直延伸到蛇夫座的 ρ 星。在某些部落的文化中，銀河中的所有黑暗星雲共同構成了“天穹的脊梁”，而在南非祖魯族的傳統中，它們則象徵著一種黑白相間的動物。 明亮恆星的命名也具有跨文化的淵源。例如，畫面頂部的那顆明亮藍色恆星織女星（Vega），其名稱源自阿拉伯語 waqi，完整的詞組 al-nasr al-waqi 意為“俯衝的鷹”（指其為了捕獵而向下俯衝）。這與另一顆名字同樣源自阿拉伯語的恆星牛郎星（Altair） 形成對比，後者意為“飛翔的鷹”。心宿二（Antares） 這一名稱源自希臘語，意為“類似火星的那顆星”，因為它的顏色與火星相近。而天蠍座尾部的沙烏拉（Shaula） 之名，則是對古巴比倫甚至更早的蘇美爾星名的現代化版本。
Credit: Amirreza Kamkar/IAU OAU

Caption: 2022 年國際天文學聯合會 OAE 天體攝影比賽靜態天體圖案類獲獎作品。 這幅照片攝於 2021 年 4 月從中國老君山山頂的全景影像展現了老君山玉皇頂上空銀河拱橋與皓月同輝的奇景。在中國傳統文化中，銀河被視為分隔牛郎星（Altair/河鼓二）與織女星（Vega/織女一）的天界江河，其北側暗雲區的"天漢津渡"（對應現代天鵝座區域）相傳為鵲橋相會處。 由於我們無法分辨所有的恆星，只能看到恆星發出的光的積累，因此，即便銀河是一個圓盤狀的星系，但因太陽系身處其旋臂內部，而我們的夜空中呈現為拱形光帶，其乳白色輝光實為無數恆星累積的星光。它在不同文化的宗教和神話中有著不同的描述。現代的銀河一詞來源於希臘民間傳說，它將其解釋為赫拉女神哺育赫拉克勒斯時濺灑的乳汁。這位宙斯與凡間女子所生之子被放置在她身邊（趁她沉睡時），但由於他強烈的吮吸，赫拉驚醒並發現自己正在哺育陌生嬰孩，便立即將其推開。柏拉圖等希臘哲學家認為天空中這條閃爍的光帶是太陽昔日路徑的痕跡。 另一方面，在南美洲的圖皮-瓜拉尼（Tupi-Guarani）原住民神話中，銀河被稱為“獏之路”。對某些澳大利亞原住民而言，若銀河高懸天際，其暗雲勾勒出鸸鹋的輪廓；若低垂於地平線，則形似鱷魚。在眾多非洲南部、南美洲和澳大利亞文化中，銀河被視為通往天堂或從天堂返回的路徑。在圖像的右邊緣，我們可以辨認出現代星座天蠍座（Scorpius）及其最著名的恆星——心宿二（Antares）。這顆略帶紅色的恆星恰好位於銀河上方。 圖像底部中央最明亮的點是正在升起的月亮，其旁為木星。圖中還可辨識出若干星座，包括右下方呈微弱弧形的南冕座（Corona Australis）。南冕座上方可見人馬座（Sagittarius）中的“茶壺”星群。由於人馬座緊鄰銀河系中心，其區域內存在眾多天體結構，如恆星形成區、球狀星團和行星狀星雲。人馬座中還藏有一個質量為太陽四百萬倍的超大質量黑洞。 在銀河左側，我們能辨認出天鵝座（Cygnus）中的明亮恆星——天津四（Deneb）。銀河貫穿天鵝座，因此該星座中存在大量星團。
Credit: Likai Lin/IAU OAU

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獲獎作品。 這張照片拍攝於2022年4月24日凌晨，捕捉到了中國雲南省的天空及其在念湖中的倒影。左側可見銀河，右側可見泛白的雲層。一顆流星沿著銀河劃過天空，其尾部指向天琴座流星雨輻射點，該輻射點位於照片上方邊緣之外。流星的自然色彩非常清晰，令人印象深刻。 一些星座也清晰可見。在左上角，我們可以看到較小的海豚座，其最亮的五顆恆星組成了一個星群。古希臘海豚座比現代海豚座更大，而這個星群在當時只是海豚座的頭部。托勒密將古希臘海豚座的南部獨立為小馬座，因此自羅馬時代起，這個星群就代表整個海豚座了。在古代中國，這個星群分別屬於瓠瓜和敗瓜兩個星官，其中瓠瓜星官是古羅馬海豚座頂部較亮的恆星組成的菱形，而敗瓜星官則由古羅馬海豚座尾部的暗星組成。 位於照片頂部、海豚座右側的亮星是牛郎星，它是天鷹座中最亮的星。在中國古天文學中，牛郎星和一些鄰近恆星一起構成了河鼓星官。然而，在中國民間傳說中，這顆明亮的恆星象徵著深愛著織女的牛郎，而象徵著織女的就是織女星，它位於天琴座，在銀河這條遼闊天河的另一側。在這幅圖中看不到織女星，但來自天琴座的這顆流星，好似這位不幸的姑孃因無法觸碰到自己的愛人而流下的淚滴。 在照片的右上方，天蠍座中閃耀著一顆明亮的紅色恆星——大火星。在中國，它和一些鄰近恆星一起構成了二十八星宿之一的心宿。在古代中國，它被視為象徵著春天的東方蒼龍的心臟。 照片中央的天蠍座和人馬座包含著銀河最明亮的斑塊——銀河系的中心。而在亮斑的前方，也有著清晰可見的暗雲。 天鷹座和天蠍座之間並沒有古希臘、古羅馬的經典星座，但是在17世紀，兩位波蘭天文學家——Jan和Elizabeta Hevelius夫婦，為了紀念一位波蘭國王，將充滿了銀河亮斑的這片天區命名為盾牌座。不過，在中國，正處於天市垣之外的這片天區被視為天弁——管理市場的官員。
Credit: Jianfeng Dai/IAU OAE

Caption: The constellation Scorpius (often commonly called Scorpio) along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Scorpius is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Ophiuchus, Serpens Caput, Libra, Lupus, Norma, Ara, Corona Australis and Sagittarius. Scorpius’s brightest star Antares appears in the heart of the constellation with the famous tail of Scoprius in the south-east (lower left). Scorpius 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 only spends a short amount of time in late November in Scorpius. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Scorpius. Scorpius lies south of the celestial equator. The whole constellation is not visible from the most arctic regions of the world with parts of Scorpius obscured for observers in northern parts of Asia, Europe and North America. Scorpius is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The yellow circles mark the positions of the open clusters M6, M7 & NGC 6231 while the yellow circles with plus signs superimposed on them mark the globular clusters M4 and M80. 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 circle around Antares indicates that it is a variable star. 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 marks the ecliptic, the path the Sun appears to travel across the sky over the course of one year. 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 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: The constellation Capricornus (commonly called Capricorn) including its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Capricornus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Aquarius, Aquila, Sagittarius, Microscopium and Piscis Austrinus. Capricornus 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 Capricornus from mid January to mid February. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Capricornus. Capricornus lies just south of the celestial equator and is visible to all observers south of the Arctic Circle. Capricornus is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring. In the south east (lower left on this diagram) of the constellation one can find the globular cluster M30 (shown here as a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it). 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: The constellation Ophiuchus along with its bright stars and its surrounding constellations. Ophiuchus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Hercules, Serpens Caput, Scorpius, Sagittarius and Serpens Cauda. Ophiuchus is not part of the traditional twelve zodiac constellations but it 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 Ophiuchus from late November to mid December. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Ophiuchus. Ophiuchus spans the celestial equator and thus part of the constellation is visible across the whole of the earth at some point in the year. However during the time it is most visible in the evenings (the southern hemisphere winter and northern hemisphere summer) much of the arctic is in perpetual daylight making the stars in the constellation impossible to see. The whole constellation is visible from equatorial and temperate regions of both hemispheres. As Ophiuchus lies close to the galactic center it contains many globular clusters such as M9, M10, M12, M14, M19, M62, and M107. These are marked as yellow circles with plus symbols superimposed. 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: The constellation Corona Australis with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Corona Australis is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Sagittarius, Scorpius, Ara and Telescopium. This constellation has relatively few bright stars. Corona Australis is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible in the southern hemisphere at some point in the year. The constellation can also be viewed from equatorial and some temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. The constellation is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The globular cluster NGC 6541 lies in Corona Australis and is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. 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 top right 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