影像版權與提供: Ray Palmer, MSX, IPAC, NASA
Explanation:
Place your cursor on this stunning view through dark skies over western Australia to highlight wonders of the southern Milky Way -- including the famous Southern Cross, the dark Coal Sack Nebula, and bright reddish emission regions surrounding massive star Eta Carinae. Recorded Tuesday at about 2 am, the thirty minute long color film exposure also captured a bright but mysterious object that moved slowly across the sky for over an hour. Widely seen, the object began as a small point and expanded as it tracked toward the North (left), resulting in a comet-like appearance in this picture. What was it? Reports are now identifying the mystery glow with a plume from the explosion of a malfunctioned Russian rocket stage partially filled with fuel. The rocket stage was marooned in Earth orbit after a failed communication satellite launch almost a year ago on February 28, 2006. A substantial amount of debris from the breakup can be tracked.
說明:
將鼠標移到這幅壯麗的西澳洲星空影像上，就可以看見南天銀河的珍寶，包括著名的南十字、黝黑的煤袋星雲、和大質量海山二星周圍明亮的發射星雲。這張在星期二 (2/20/07)清晨二點拍攝的30分鐘曝光影像，也記錄了一個神祕天體如何在一個小時之間緩慢移過星野。這個有眾多目擊者的天體，原先是小點，但隨著它向北(影像左方)行進逐漸散開，造成它在照片中類似彗星的外觀。它到底是什麼？據報導推斷這道神祕的輝光，是一截故障蘇俄火箭半滿的燃料發生爆炸所造成的。這截火箭自2006年2月28日的通訊衛星發射失敗後，就困在地球軌道上。這次爆炸的大部份碎片皆能被追蹤。
資料來源: Scientific American
Department of Physics, NCKU