土星環似乎消失了
Saturn's Rings Appear to Disappear
來源：Natan Fontes｜發表日期：2025-04-29
土星的耳朵在哪裡？伽利略被認為是 1610 年第一個看到土星光環的人。伽利略在測試利珀黑最近共同發明的望遠鏡時，不知道土星環是什麼，因此稱其為 "耳朵"。 1612 年，土星的耳朵神秘地消失了，這讓謎團更加深了。今天，我們知道了事情的真相：從地球的角度看，土星環變得太薄，無法看到。 同樣的戲劇每 15 年上演一次，因為土星和地球一樣，也會經歷傾斜驅動的季節。這意味著，當土星繞太陽執行時，它的赤道和星環會明顯地向太陽和太陽系內部傾斜，這使得它們很容易被看到，但從其他軌道位置看卻幾乎完全看不到。 來自巴西巴西利亞的特寫圖片展示了這一序列的現代版本：頂部以環為主的圖片拍攝於 2020 年，而底部環不明顯的圖片拍攝於 2025 年早些時候。 讓土星環音樂化：像彈奏豎琴一樣彈奏土星環！
原文：Where are Saturn's ears? Galileo is credited, in 1610, as the first person to see Saturn's rings. Testing out Lipperhey's recently co-invented telescope, Galileo did not know what they were and so called them "ears". The mystery deepened in 1612, when Saturn's ears mysteriously disappeared. Today we know exactly what happened: from the perspective of the Earth, Saturn's rings had become too thin to see. The same drama plays out every 15 years because Saturn, like Earth, undergoes tilt-driven seasons. This means that as Saturn goes around the Sun, its equator and rings can tilt noticeably toward the Sun and inner Solar System, making them easily visible, but from other orbital locations will appear almost not at all. The featured picture from Brasilia, Brazil shows a modern version of this sequence: the top ring-dominated image was taken in 2020, while the bottom ring-obscure image taken earlier in 2025. Make Saturn's Rings Musical: Play them like a harp!
※ 本文由萌芽機器人自動轉貼自每日一天文圖（Astronomy Picture of the Day，APOD），原文為英文，正體中文是透過 DeepL 翻譯及 OpenCC 進行自動處理，內容僅供參考，若有任何錯誤之處還請見諒！
關於每日一天文圖：每日一天文圖網站是美國國家航空暨太空總署與密西根理工大學提供的服務，網站每天提供一張影像或圖片，並由天文學家撰寫扼要說明其特別之處。