Wang Zhipu takes photos of the solar system. PROVIDED TO TEENS
When you look at all the sparkling stars in the night sky, do you want to know what the universe really looks like? Inspired by the simple beauty of space, many astronomy photographers indulge in shooting high-definition pictures of stars, galaxies and gas clouds. Wang Zhipu, a 16-year-old boy from No 1 Middle School of Yongtai, Fujian province, is one of them.
看到夜空中星光闪烁，你想不想知道宇宙究竟是什么样的？受到太空简单之美感染，许多天文摄影师沉迷于拍摄恒星、星系和气体云的高清照片。来自福建省永泰一中的16岁男生王至璞，就是其中之一。
While standing on his balcony, Wang observes various planets thousands of light-years away with an astronomical telescope and takes pictures of them. He then creates a composite image of planets in the solar system, framed by the sun and moon. His picture, Family Photo of the Solar System, helped him take home the top prize in the Young Competition category at the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, the world’s biggest astrophotography competition organized by the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
王至璞站在阳台上，用天文望远镜观察着数千光年之外的各大行星，并拍下它们的照片。随后，他将行星拼在太阳和月球之间，创造出一幅太阳系行星的合成图像。王至璞凭借照片《太阳系“全家福”》，获得了格林威治年度天文摄影师大赛青年组冠军。该竞赛由格林威治皇家天文台主办，是世界上最大的天文摄影比赛。
“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.”
“‘全家福’里的所有天体都拍出了新意，我很喜欢这种围绕太阳系的新鲜、又有些有趣的概念，”竞赛评委苏·普里查德谈及王至璞的照片时表示，“王至璞是一颗天文摄影的新星，他创造了一个有意义的、技术成熟的作品。”
Since Junior 2, Wang has always liked to take different pictures of the moon, Saturn and Jupiter, among others, to improve his shooting skills. “Then one day, an idea struck me: Why don’t I put those planets together and let them reunite?” said Wang. “That’s the beginning of my story.”
从初二开始，王至璞就一直喜欢拍摄月球、土星和木星等不同天体的照片，提高自己的拍摄技巧。“后来有一天，我忽然有了一个想法：为什么不把这些行星放在一起，让它们连成一线呢？”王至璞说，“这就是《太阳系“全家福”》的最初来源。”
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, Mercury is often cited as the most difficult of the five brightest planets to see with the naked eye. Because it’s the planet closest to the sun, it never goes too far from the sun’s vicinity in the sky. To capture a clear picture of it, 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.
外太空摄影并非易事。在大约半年的时间里，王至璞都必须精心计算拍摄行星的最佳时间，等行星经过地球上空，行至与太阳相对的位置时，才能拍摄出最明亮的图像。更重要的是，他还需要等待晴朗的天气，以观看到更清晰的效果。例如，人们经常评价水星是五颗最亮的行星中，用肉眼最难观看到的一颗。因为水星是离太阳最近的行星，它在太空中从不会远离太阳四周。为了捕捉到清晰的水星画面，王至璞在黎明时分拍摄过三次，但效果均不理想。日落时，王至璞拍到了10000帧的视频，他选取比较好的几千帧进行叠加，进一步优化，制成了更令人满意的图片。
From shooting to processing photos, Wang learned photography all by himself. He reads astronomy books, joins astrophotography clubs, learns different photo processing software and exchanges ideas with his classmates. To get the ideal shot, Wang often gets up early before going to school and goes to bed early to save energy.
从拍摄到处理照片，王至璞自学了摄影。他阅读天文学书籍，参加天文摄影俱乐部，学习使用不同的照片处理软件，并与同学们交流想法。为了拍出理想的照片，王至璞经常在上学之前早起拍摄，或回家提早睡觉，以便节省体力（夜里再起来拍摄）。
“It’s a pity that the light pollution makes it nearly impossible to see stars in the night sky,” said Wang. “I hope my pictures can call on more people to protect our environment and the infinite universe.”
“很遗憾因为光污染，我们几乎不可能在夜空中看到星星，”王至璞说，“希望我的照片可以呼吁更多的人保护我们的环境和无限的宇宙。”
