2 . Mounting a telescope on the balcony at home, Wang Zhipu, a 16-year-old boy from Fujian Province, observes the skies, takes photos and begins his voyage into space after class. Recently, his efforts were rewarded when he won the title of “Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2021” in the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s annual astrophotography contest. His winning entry, entitled Family Photo of the Solar System, shows seven of the eight planets lined up horizontally, with the sun on the left and moon on the right, both pictured larger in size than normal.

“All families are unconventional, so I adored this fresh, gently playful concept around the solar system,” said the competition judge Sue Prichard while talking about Wang’s picture. “A meaningful technically accomplished work from a rising star of astronomical photography.”

It hasn’t been easy taking pictures of outer space. For about half a year, Wang had to calculate the best time to shoot planets when they’re opposite the sun in Earth’s sky to get the brightest images. What’s more, he still needed to wait for clear weather to see better. For example, to capture a clear picture of Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, which is often cited as the most difficult of the five brightest planets to see with the naked eye, Wang tried to shoot it three times in the early morning but failed. At sunset, he shot 10, 000 frames of video and selected several thousand better frames to overlay, further refine them and form a more satisfactory picture.

Sometimes Wang would be so absorbed in his observations that he wouldn’t go downstairs to fetch a coat, even in the middle of winter. Other times, he stood for hours under the burning sun to get the perfect shot. To get an ideal shot, he often gets up at dawn, sleeps early to wake up at midnight, and even takes time off from evening classes when necessary.

3 . Scientists have not found any signs of life on Mars yet,but they say a robotic vehicle called “Curiosity” is helping them learn a lot about the planet’s history and climate.

Curiosity landed on Mars in August 2012 after travelling through space for more than eight months.It was sent to Mars by scientists from NASA in the United States.

Curiosity is about the size of a car and has six wheels.It also has a robotic arm,cameras,and instruments that allow it to examine things it finds on the surface.Then it sends the information back to the earth.

Curiosity’s main task is to find out if anything could live on Mars,either now or in the past.On Nov.2,NASA scientists held a press conference (新闻发布会) to discuss what Curiosity had found in its first two months on Mars.

Curiosity has found soil that is similar to the sand formed by volcanoes (火山) on the earth.Scientists say that studying the minerals in Martian soil will help them understand what conditions were like on the planet in the past.Curiosity also found smooth stones like the ones found on river beds and seashores on the earth,where their rough edges have been worn down by water.Mars is very cold and dry now,but scientists say the smooth stones tell them that a river used to run through the place where they were found.

Curiosity has been testing the atmosphere around Mars for a type of gas called methane (甲烷),but so far it has not found any.On the earth,most methane is produced by plants or animals.Methane on Mars might indicate that some type of tiny plants or animals lived there.

Curiosity is the fourth robotic vehicle to be sent to Mars.It will continue to explore the planet for about two years.