韦伯影像: 藏在猎户座大星云里的天体

2023年10月10日

Hidden Orion from Webb
Image Credit & License: NASA, ESA, CSA, JWST; Processing: M. McCaughrean & S. Pearson

Explanation: The Great Nebula in Orion has hidden stars. To the unaided eye in visible light, it appears as a small fuzzy patch in the constellation of Orion. But this image was taken by the Webb Space Telescope in a representative-color composite of red and very near infrared light. It confirms with impressive detail that the Orion Nebula is a busy neighborhood of young stars, hot gas, and dark dust. The rollover image shows the same image in representative colors further into the near infrared. The power behind much of the Orion Nebula (M42) is the Trapezium – a cluster of bright stars near the nebula’s center. The diffuse and filamentary glow surrounding the bright stars is mostly heated interstellar dust. Detailed inspection of these images shows an unexpectedly large number of Jupiter-Mass Binary Objects (JuMBOs), pairs of Jupiter-mass objects which might give a clue to how stars are forming. The whole Orion Nebula cloud complex, which includes the Horsehead Nebula, will slowly disperse over the next few million years.

APOD editor to speak: in Houghton, Michigan on Thursday, October 12 at 6 pm

Tomorrow’s picture: star gone

韦伯影像: 藏在猎户座大星云里的天体
影像提供与授权: NASA, ESA, CSA, JWST; 影像处理: M. McCaughrean & S. Pearson

说明: 猎户座大星云内有隐不可见的恒星。在只能感侧可见光的肉眼里，它看起来像是猎户座内的弥漫小光斑。不过，这幅来自韦伯太空望远镜的代表色影像，是由摄于红光和近红外光的数据组合而成。因此它无比清晰的证实，猎户座大星云是个由年轻恒星、炽热气体和黝黑尘埃织就的忙碌区域。而轮替影像所呈现的，则是同一区域在更长波长的近红外光之代表色影像。驱动猎户座大星云（M42）的主要能量源，是位在星云中心的那群亮星所属的四边形星团。而这些亮星周围的弥漫丝缕状晕光，主成分是受热的星际尘埃。在仔细检枧这些影像之后，出乎意外的找到大量木星质量级的双天体系统（JuMBOs），而这些成对的双木系统，或许能为了解恒星到底是如何形成的提供线索。此外，包括马头星云在内的整个猎户座大星云复合体，于未来的数百万年里会缓缓的消散匿踪。

APOD编辑发言: 10月12日星期四下午6点在密歇根州霍顿

明日的图片: star gone