IC 4592：蓝马头反射星云

2021年07月05日

IC 4592: The Blue Horsehead Reflection Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona

Explanation: Do you see the horse’s head? What you are seeing is not the famous Horsehead nebula toward Orion but rather a fainter nebula that only takes on a familiar form with deeper imaging. The main part of the here imaged molecular cloud complex is a reflection nebula cataloged as IC 4592. Reflection nebulas are actually made up of very fine dust that normally appears dark but can look quite blue when reflecting the visible light of energetic nearby stars. In this case, the source of much of the reflected light is a star at the eye of the horse. That star is part of Nu Scorpii, one of the brighter star systems toward the constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius). A second reflection nebula dubbed IC 4601 is visible surrounding two stars to the right of the image center.

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IC 4592：蓝马头反射星云
影像提供与版权: Adam Block, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona

说明: 你看到马头吗？你看见的不是猎户座著名的马头星云，而是另一个只有在较深空影像里，类似的马头形状才会显现的昏暗星云。这张影像所呈现的分子云复合体的主体，是编号为IC 4592的反射星云。反射星云是由微小的尘埃所组成，通常看起是黝黑的，不过在反射附近炽热恒星的可见光之后，却可能变得很蓝。在上面这个范例里，大部份所反射的星光是来自位在马眼的恒星。这颗恒星是尾宿九(Nu Scorpii)的成员之一，而尾宿九则是天蝎座数个明亮多合星系统之一。在影像的中右方，可以看见围绕在二颗恒星周围、名为IC 4601的第二个反射星云。

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