255小时长曝光下的M51
2023年8月11日
Messier 51 in 255 Hours
Image Credit & Copyright: The Deep Sky Collective – Carl Björk,
Thomas Bähnck, Sebastian Donoso, Jake Gentillon, Antoine and Dalia Grelin, Stephen Guberski, Richard Hall,
Tino Heuberger, Jason Jacks, Paul Kent, Brian Meyers, William Ostling, Nicolas Puig, Tim Schaeffer, Felix Schöfbänker, Mikhail Vasilev
Explanation: An intriguing pair of interacting galaxies, M51 is the 51st entry in Charles Messier’s famous catalog. Perhaps the original spiral nebula, the large galaxy with whirlpool-like spiral structure seen nearly face-on is also cataloged as NGC 5194. Its spiral arms and dust lanes sweep in front of a companion galaxy (right), NGC 5195. Some 31 million light-years distant, within the boundaries of the well-trained constellation Canes Venatici, M51 looks faint and fuzzy to the eye in direct telescopic views. But this remarkably deep image shows off stunning details of the galaxy pair’s striking colors and extensive tidal debris. A collaboration of astro-imagers using telescopes on planet Earth combined over 10 days of exposure time to create this definitive galaxy portrait of M51. The image includes 118 hours of narrowband data that also reveals a vast glowing cloud of reddish ionized hydrogen gas discovered in the M51 system.
Tomorrow’s picture: 26 squiggles
255小时长曝光下的M51
影像提供与版权: The Deep Sky Collective – Carl Björk,
Thomas Bähnck, Sebastian Donoso, Jake Gentillon, Antoine and Dalia Grelin, Stephen Guberski, Richard Hall,
Tino Heuberger, Jason Jacks, Paul Kent, Brian Meyers, William Ostling, Nicolas Puig, Tim Schaeffer, Felix Schöfbänker, Mikhail Vasilev
说明: 很有趣的互扰星系对M51，是梅西耶著名星表所编录的第51号天体。这个正向大星系或许也是首例的原始”螺旋星云”，它具有涡状的螺旋外观，也另拥有NGC 5194的编录号。在影像里，它的旋臂和尘埃带拂过伴星系NGC 5195（右）的前方。 M51距离我们约3,100万光年远，位在北天猎犬座的边界之内，用望远镜直接观看时，其身影昏暗而模糊。不过这幅极深空的影像，却精采呈现了这对星系引人注目的色彩和宽广潮汐碎片令人赞叹的细节。这项来自天文摄影者的望远镜合作造影工作，结合了超过10天的长曝光数据，以制作出这幅终极版的M51星系肖像。此外，这幅影像也整合了118小时的窄波段影像数据，以彰显M51系统里庞大、不断散发泛红辉光的电离氢气云。
明日的图片: 26 squiggles