Astronomy Picture of the Day——羽蛇神金字塔上空的银河
Milky Way over Pyramid of the FeatheredSerpent
Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Fedez
Explanation: To see the feathered serpentdescend the Mayan pyramid requires exquisite timing. You must visit El Castillo-- in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula -- near an equinox. Then, during the lateafternoon if the sky is clear, the pyramid's own shadows create triangles that mergeinto the famous illusion of the slithering viper. Also known as the Temple ofKukulkan, the impressive step-pyramid stands 30 meters tall and 55 meters wideat the base. Built up as a series of square terraces by the pre-Columbiancivilization between the 9th and 12th century, the structure can be used as acalendar and is noted for astronomical alignments. To see the central band ofour Milky Way Galaxy descend overhead the Mayan pyramid, however, requires lessexquisite timing. Even the ancient Mayans might have been impressed, though, toknow that the exact positions of the Milky Way, Saturn (left) and Jupiter(right) in the featured image give it a time stamp more specific than equinox-- in fact 2019 April 7 at 5 am.
羽蛇神金字塔上空的银河
想要看到羽蛇神降临玛雅金字塔，需要把握精确的时间。必须在春分前后造访位于墨西哥尤卡坦半岛的羽蛇神金字塔。此外，在下午晚些时候，如果天空是晴朗的，金字塔自身的影子会形成三角形，让人联想到滑行毒蛇的著名幻象。这座令人印象深刻的阶梯形金字塔也被称为库库尔坎神庙，其高度30米，底部宽为55米。该建筑于9世纪到12世纪由前哥伦布文明建造的一系列方形平台构成，可作为日历使用，以天文学上的排列而闻名。然而，想要看到银河系的中央带降临到玛雅金字塔的正上方，并不需要那么精确的时间。尽管如此，即使是古代玛雅人也可能对这幅特征图像产生深刻的印象，知道其中银河系、土星（左侧）和木星（右侧）的确切位置，并给出一个比春分更具体的时间戳，事实上这是2019年4月7日凌晨5点。
参考文献：
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1906/MayanMilkyWay_Fernandez_1600.jpg
近期文章：
Astronomy Picture of the Day——拱极星迹线