Glossary term: 星座

Description: 用現代科學術語來說，星座是天球中劃分出的一個多邊形。國際天文學聯合會將整個天球劃分為 88 個區域，即星座。這個劃分以古希臘使用的星座為基礎，加上最新增加的（特別是南半球新增加的）星座。88 個星座都占據天空的某一部分，因此，從恆星、星系到星雲等，每個天體都可以與一個星座聯繫在一起。黃道十二宮由 13 個星座組成，它們與黃道（太陽每年在天球上劃過的軌跡）重疊。這 13 個星座是蛇夫座、射手座、摩羯座、水瓶座、雙魚座、白羊座、金牛座、雙子座、巨蟹座、獅子座、室女座、天秤座和天蠍座。

星座包含一組恆星（小行星），從地球上看是一個圖案。這些圖案被形象地描述為代表人類、動物或其他可識別的物體。

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明亮的流星劃過夜空，並在水面上映出其軌跡。左上方的大麥哲倫雲呈現為一條模糊的光帶。

二重天之間

Caption: 2022 年國際天文學聯合會教育辦公室天體攝影比賽，"天體圖案靜態圖像 "類別榮譽獎。這張照片於 2014 年 4 月拍攝於澳大利亞納拉布里，展示了大麥哲倫雲旁邊的一顆流星以及這一切在水中的倒影。麥哲倫星雲是以葡萄牙探險家費迪南德-麥哲倫的名字命名的，麥哲倫在16世紀初繪製了南美洲南部的第一批地圖，但未能在探險航行中生還。他的船員們以他的名字命名這兩個星雲，直到 20 世紀，天文學研究才發現它們實際上是與我們相伴的矮星系。這張照片拍攝於 2014 年 4 月，地點位於澳大利亞納拉布里，畫面中一顆流星劃過大麥哲倫星雲旁，並在水面上形成倒影。麥哲倫星雲因葡萄牙探險家費迪南·麥哲倫而得名，他在 16 世紀初首次繪製了南美洲南部的地圖，但未能活到完成遠航。他的船員們以他的名字命名了這兩片星雲。直到 20 世紀，天文學研究才發現它們實際上是我們銀河系相伴的矮星系。 18 世紀，一位曾在南非生活多年，以繪製天空和陸地地圖為目的的法國數學家讓-尼古拉·拉卡伊創造了一些新的星座。他測量了一些闇弱恆星的位置，並將它們列入自己的星表中，但並未嘗試在星空圖案上加上現實世界中的美麗圖像，因此他隨意命名了這些星座。他的觀測基地位於當時的貿易站，即今天的開普敦市。從這裡可以看到著名的桌山。他從航海者那裡了解到，水手們通過觀察桌山周圍的雲層來判斷風向是否適合航行。通常，桌山頂上會有一大片白雲。因此，拉卡伊並未將這兩個矮星系中較大的一個視為‘麥哲倫雲’，而是將其看作桌山上的雲。於是，他在這片矮星系旁的一片暗淡星區中創造了“山案座”這一星座，並以桌山命名。
Credit: 法布里齊奧-梅蘭德里/國際天文學聯合會教育辦公室

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons 姓名標示 4.0 國際 (CC BY 4.0) icons

世界各處的星座

Caption: 2022 年國際天文學聯合會 OAE 天體攝影比賽第三名，類別：天體的時間流逝。本視頻以自然為舞臺主角，採用戲劇化結構，呈現冰島與中國兩地夜空的萬千氣象。序幕由暮色藍調漸暗展開，陸地雲層為幕，壯美地貌為景，揭曉星空舞臺。南天銀河最攝人心魄的段落——天蠍座（Scorpius）與南十字座（Crux）之間，伴以半人馬座α、β星（Alpha/Beta Centauri）這對"指極星"，如王者巡遊般莊嚴劃過天際。地面流雲輕撫星光，反令恆星的色彩在朦朧中愈發澄明。第一幕演繹人類文化中的星空意象。當昴星團（Pleiades）自山巔升起時，下方人影持電筒匆匆掠過。恰在昴宿躍出山脊的瞬間，電筒光束直射鏡頭——這精妙設計以幽默筆觸，暗合文明史上人類與"昴宿初升"的深刻羈絆。隨後鏡頭轉向北天經典星座——大熊座（Ursa Major）及其北斗七星，下方極光如拱門舞動。雖形態流轉不息，本質卻亙古如初。儘管北極文化常將極光視為先祖魂靈，本劇卻未著墨人類信仰，徑自將視野南移。新場景始於日出前的星辰初升，雙子座/金牛座（Gemini/Taurus）區域黃道光錐顯現，地平線漸染晨曦。約1分13秒處，獵戶座（Orion）西沉於水面，天光雲影共徘徊。流雲過境印證著地球實景拍攝，而獵戶肩足近乎同步沉沒的奇觀，暗示拍攝地近赤道——在此緯度，獵戶亮星恰似巨蝶展翅：三星腰帶為軀，四星四邊形化翼。首先，我們看到一些星星在日出前不久升起。黃道十二宮的光錐出現在雙子座/金牛座，地平線變得更加明亮。在下一個場景中，大約 1 分 13 秒時，我們看到獵戶座落在水面上，因此水面與天體景象相映成趣。一些雲層穿過畫面，證明這些視頻確實是在我們美麗的星球上拍攝的，而且由於獵戶座的肩部和腳部幾乎同時落下，這組視頻一定是在赤道附近拍攝的。在這一區域，獵戶座的亮星看起來就像一隻巨大的蝴蝶，獵戶座腰帶構成了蝴蝶的身體，而四顆亮星組成的四邊形則被解釋為蝴蝶的翅膀。如真實劇院般，極光幕簾為"天宇戲劇"開啟新章。此幕聚焦獨特文化星象：既有中國星官體系中的蒼龍之尾、箕宿、南斗（對應現代天蠍座與人馬座區域），亦展現在全球多文明中被尊為星群的北冕座（Corona Borealis）冠冕輪廓。行星、織女（Vega）、天津四（Deneb）及其周邊區域、牛郎（Altair）、銀河，以及被地球諸多文明視為星群的仙後座（Cassiopeia）W形標誌相繼登場。終章以兩幕寧謐星空作結，天地歸於大寂。
Credit: Stephanie Ye Ziyi/IAU OAE

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智利的夜空

Caption: 2022年國際天文學聯合會（IAU）OAE天文攝影比賽延時天體圖案類別榮譽獎作品。這幅延時攝影作品拍攝於2020年12月，展示了位於南半球智利的聖佩德羅-德阿塔卡馬的夜空。在第一幅畫面中，可以看到我們所在的銀河系，以及圍繞銀河系運行的兩個衛星星系——大小麥哲倫雲。在畫面底部，可以看到明亮的恆星南門二和馬腹一（也被稱為半人馬座α星和β星），它們都位於半人馬座。在它們正上方，還可以看到北迴歸線以南可見的南十字座。它對導航非常重要，因為它的長軸指示著南天極的方向。畫面頂端，位於銀河右側的亮白色恆星是位於船底座的老人星，它是夜空中最亮的恆星之一。老人星是全天第二亮的恆星，而南門二則是第三亮的恆星。在接下來的一些畫面中，獵戶座帶著它明亮的恆星和特有的星群——由三顆排列整齊的亮星組成的腰帶，清晰地出現在畫面中。因為這段視頻是從南半球拍攝的，所以這位來自北半球的希臘英雄似乎正在倒立。我們還能看到木星和土星緊密相合，甚至可在它們周圍看到正在緩緩沒入地平線的明顯光帶，那就是黃道光。一些畫面中還閃爍著幾顆流星，其中一顆流星的尾跡持續時間很長，並在不斷延伸。一輪明月從安第斯山脈的火山後面升起，產生了壯觀的陰影和曙暮輝光。在最後一幅畫面中，我們看到月亮與相合的木星和土星為伴。
Credit: Robert Barsa/IAU OAE

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獵戶座在埃特納火山上空升起

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。這張照片拍攝於2021年2月，背景是一幅天文圖像，前景是意大利西西里島著名的埃特納火山。在獵戶座區域，我們可以看到太空中的紅色氫雲。其中巨大的弓形是巴納德環，其中心是獵戶座大星雲和馬頭星雲。馬頭星雲顏色更深，位於獵戶座腰帶最南端恆星——也就是紅色星雲上方的一排白色恆星——的下方。獵戶座小星雲和獵戶座大星雲——即淺粉色的圓形和梯形結構——之間的分界線也清晰可見。最近的一個恆星形成區就位於這個星雲中，它距離我們只有一千多光年。在照片左中部靠近邊緣處有一個紅色小結構，它是猴頭星雲，也位於獵戶座。它擁有一個年輕的星團。這團氫雲的深紅色表明，如果那裡的物質再次被壓縮，則新的恆星將來有可能在其內部形成。所有這些紅色天體在這張照片中都經過了強烈處理，因為它們在肉眼下是看不到的。不過，這張照片還是提供了一個有趣的特徵：紅超巨星參宿四位於圖像中間，似乎就在埃特納活火山的正上方。在這座火山的山腳下有一個古老的居民點，即卡塔尼亞城。我們認為參宿四和埃特納火山都有一定的危險性——但它們誰會先爆發呢？我們知道埃特納火山偶爾會爆發。通常它只是小規模爆發，但每隔幾個世紀就會有一次大規模爆發。我們還知道，參宿四作為一顆巨星，將來會成為一顆超新星。天文學家稱，潛在超新星所能存在的時間很短，這意味著距離這顆恆星爆炸只有一萬年到十萬年的時間。這對天文學家來說是“很短”的，意味著地球將會經歷二到四個歲差週期（結果是撒哈拉沙漠將變綠並再次乾燥二到四次），大陸漂移將把非洲帶到更北的地方，並導致阿爾卑斯山增高，美洲的尼亞加拉瀑布將把岩石完全沖走。只有在地球上發生了這一切（以及更多的事情）之後，參宿四才會作為超新星而爆發。埃特納火山對西西里島——尤其是卡塔尼亞的人們來說要危險得多，因為距離它爆發的時間更短。
Credit: Dario Giannobile/IAU OAE

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons 姓名標示 4.0 國際 (CC BY 4.0) icons

老人星上中天

Caption: 2022 年國際天文學聯合會 OAE 天體攝影競賽 "天體圖案的時間流逝 "類別榮譽獎。這段延時視頻於 2018 年 1 月在美國約書亞樹國家公園拍攝，沿著老人星的軌跡，它是夜空中第二亮的星，從左到右移動，幾乎觸及地平線。月亮照亮了整個景觀。老人星與古老的南船座（Argo）的船舵有關，如今，南船座已拆分為三個現代星座：船帆座（Vela）、船尾座（Puppis）和船底座（Carina），老人星位於船底座。由於它的亮度，在歷史上，老人星吸引了世界各地文化的關注。例如，北美洲的納瓦霍人將這顆恆星命名為 "郊狼"，並說郊狼參與了宇宙的創造。巴西的卡拉帕洛人將老人星與鴨子聯繫在一起，其他明亮的星星構成了鴨子的身體部位。老人星出現在天空預示著雨季的到來。
Credit: Fabrizio Melandri/IAU OAE

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The bright stars in Andromeda form a Y-shape. Pegasus to the lower right. In the center is M31, marked with a red ellipse.

Andromeda Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Andromeda showing the bright stars and surrounding constellations. Andromeda is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Cassiopeia, Lacerta, Pegasus, Pisces, Aries, Triangulum and Perseus. The brightest star in Andromeda (Alpheratz) is in the lower part of the constellation. Together with three stars in Pegasus it forms the asterism known as the "Great Square of Pegasus". The next two bright stars in the constellation (Mirach and Almach) form a line extending north-east from Alpheratz. Andromeda is a northern constellation and is most visible in the evenings in the Northern Hemisphere autumn. It is visible from all of the Northern Hemisphere and most temperate regions of the Southern Hemisphere but is not visible from Antarctic and Subantarctic regions. The most famous object in Andromeda, the Andromeda Galaxy is marked here with a red ellipse and its Messier catalog number M31. The yellow circle on the left marks the position of the open cluster NGC 752 and the green circle on the right marks NGC 7662 (the blue snowball nebula), a planetary nebula. 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

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The four bright stars of Crux form a kite shape with the long axis pointing vertically

Crux Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Crux (commonly known as the Southern Cross or Crux Australis) showing its bright stars and surrounding constellations. The Southern Cross is surrounding by (going clockwise from the top) Centaurus, Carina and Musca. The brightest star is alpha Crucis which appears at the bottom of the constellation's famous kite shape. The Southern Cross is visible from southern and equatorial regions of the world. In more southerly parts of the world it is circumpolar so is always above the horizon. In other parts of the southern hemisphere and in equatorial regions it is most visible in the evenings in the southern hemisphere autumn. The yellow circles show the locations of two open clusters, NGC 4755 (known as the Jewel Box) and NGC 4609. The line joining gamma and alpha Crucis (the third and first brightest stars in the Southern Cross) points in the approximate direction of the South Celestial Pole. This has led to the Southern Cross playing an important role in celestial navigation, allowing navigators from different astronomical traditions to find their bearings. 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.

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獵戶座星圖

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

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Libra appears as a triangle pointing north (up) with two lines hanging down. It is bisected by the ecliptic running ESE-WNW

Libra Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Libra along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Libra is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Serpens Caput, Virgo, Hydra, Centaurus, Lupus, Scorpius and Ophiuchus. Libra 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 Libra from late October to late November. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Libra. Libra lies just south of the celestial equator and is thus visible at some time in all but the most arctic regions. Libra is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere late spring/early summer and southern hemisphere late autumn/early 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. 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

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons 姓名標示 4.0 國際 (CC BY 4.0) icons

Scorpius appears as a letter T joined to a letter J. The ecliptic runs ESE to WNW and clips one arm of the T

Scorpius Constellation Map

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

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons 姓名標示 4.0 國際 (CC BY 4.0) icons

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