IC 1396的不寻常云球

2022年12月12日

An Unusual Globule in IC 1396
Image Credit & Copyright: Bernard Miller

Explanation: Is there a monster in IC 1396? Known to some as the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula, parts of gas and dust clouds of this star formation region may appear to take on foreboding forms, some nearly human. The only real monster here, however, is a bright young star too far from Earth to hurt us. Energetic light from this star is eating away the dust of the dark cometary globule near the top of the featured image. Jets and winds of particles emitted from this star are also pushing away ambient gas and dust. Nearly 3,000 light-years distant, the relatively faint IC 1396 complex covers a much larger region on the sky than shown here, with an apparent width of more than 10 full moons.

Tomorrow’s picture: art and sky

IC 1396的不寻常云球
图像提供与版权: Bernard Miller

说明: 有怪物藏在IC 1396里吗？这根名为象鼻星云的云柱，是一个气体与尘埃云恒星形成区之一部份，而它乍看之下形状有些赫人，甚至有点带着人形。然而，该处真正的怪物，其实只是一颗离地球很远而与人无害的明亮年轻恒星。来自这颗恒星的高能量星光，正逐渐侵蚀这幅主题图像上缘的黝黑彗星状云球的尘埃。同时，源自这颗恒星的喷流与粒子恒星风，也将周围的气体和尘埃往外面推。离我们将近3,000光年远的黯淡IC 1396复合体，张角超过10个满月，跨幅远大于图像所显示的区域。

明日的图片: art and sky