船底大星云的北缘

2023年5月1日

Carina Nebula North
Image Credit & Copyright: Carlos Taylor

Explanation: The Great Carina Nebula is home to strange stars and iconic nebulas. Named for its home constellation, the huge star-forming region is larger and brighter than the Great Orion Nebula but less well known because it is so far south — and because so much of humanity lives so far north. The featured image shows in great detail the northernmost part of the Carina Nebula. On the bottom left is the Gabriela Mistral Nebula consisting of an emission nebula of glowing gas (IC 2599) surrounding the small open cluster of stars (NGC 3324). Above the image center is the larger star cluster NGC 3293, while to its right is the emission nebula Loden 153. The most famous occupant of the Carina Nebula, however, is not shown. Off the image to the lower right is the bright, erratic, and doomed star known as Eta Carinae — a star once one of the brightest stars in the sky and now predicted to explode in a supernova sometime in the next few million years.

Tomorrow’s picture: unusually flat mars

船底座星云的北缘
影像提供与版权: Carlos Taylor

说明: 船底座星云是许多怪异恒星和标志性星云的家园。这个因所在的星座而得名的庞大恒星形成区，比猎户座大星云更大更亮，但声名反而较不显，因为它在南天的深处，而地球大部分的人口却住在北半球。这幅主题影像，极为细致的呈现船底座星云的北缘区。在影像内诸多可见的星云之中，包括左缘环拱在活跃沃夫-瑞叶恒星23（WR23）周围的半圆形丝状云气。在中左方，有环拱在小疏散星团NGC 3324周围、名为“加夫列拉·米斯特拉尔星云（IC 2599）”的明亮发射星云。影像中上方的大星团为NGC 3293，其右方的发射星云为罗登153（Loden 153）。不过，船底座星云最著名的成员在视野之外。位在影像右下缘外头，有明亮、行为多变、注定要灭亡的恒星海山二；它曾是地球最明亮的恒星之一，目前预测它会在接下来的数百万年里发生超新星爆炸。

明日的图片: unusually flat mars