NGC 346的年轻恒星

2022年5月12日

Young Stars of NGC 346
Image Credit: NASA, ESA – acknowledgement: Antonella Nota (ESA/STScI) et al.,

Explanation: The massive stars of NGC 346 are short lived, but very energetic. The star cluster is embedded in the largest star forming region in the Small Magellanic Cloud, some 210,000 light-years distant. Their winds and radiation sweep out an interstellar cavern in the gas and dust cloud about 200 light-years across, triggering star formation and sculpting the region’s dense inner edge. Cataloged as N66, the star forming region also appears to contain a large population of infant stars. A mere 3 to 5 million years old and not yet burning hydrogen in their cores, the infant stars are strewn about the embedded star cluster. In this false-color Hubble Space Telescope image, visible and near-infrared light are seen as blue and green, while light from atomic hydrogen emission is red.

Tomorrow’s picture: pixels in space

NGC 346的年轻恒星
影像提供: NASA, ESA – 志谢: Antonella Nota (ESA/STScI) et al.,

说明: NGC 346的大质量恒星很短命，但会发出非常强烈的辐射。距离我们约210,000光年远的这个星团，位在小麦哲伦星系最大的恒星形成区之内。它们的恒星风和辐射，在云气和尘埃云内清出一个星际穴洞、触发恒星形成．并雕塑出此区域的致密内缘。这个编号为N66的恒星形成区，拥有大量婴儿期恒星。这些年龄只有3到5百万年、核心尚未触发氢融合的婴儿期恒星，散布在NGC 346各处。在这幅假色的哈伯太空望远镜影像里，可见光和近红外光分别以蓝和绿来上色，而氢原子所发出的光则为红色。

明日的图片: pixels in space