毕星团

2020 January 22

The Hyades Star Cluster
Image Credit & Copyright: Jose Mtanous

Explanation: It is the closest cluster of stars to the Sun. The Hyades open cluster is bright enough to have been remarked on even thousands of years ago, yet is not as bright or compact as the nearby Pleiades (M45) star cluster. Pictured here is a particularly deep image of the Hyades which has brings out vivid star colors and faint coincidental nebulas. The brightest star in the field is yellow Aldebaran, the eye of the bull toward the constellation of Taurus. Aldebaran, at 65 light-years away, is now known to be unrelated to the Hyades cluster, which lies about 150 light-years away. The central Hyades stars are spread out over about 15 light-years. Formed about 625 million years ago, the Hyades likely shares a common origin with the Beehive cluster (M44), a naked-eye open star cluster toward the constellation of Cancer, based on M44’s motion through space and remarkably similar age.

毕星团
影像来源及版权: Jose Mtanous

说明: 这是距离太阳最近的一个星团。尽管不如附近的昴星团(M45)那样明亮和紧凑，毕宿的这个疏散星团的亮度仍然足以在几千年前就引起了人们的注意。这是一张毕星团的深度照片，不仅体现了恒星丰富的色彩，还显示出正巧位于此处的暗弱星云。视野中最亮的恒星是黄色的毕宿五,它是 金牛座 所代表的公牛的“眼睛”。现在知道，距离我们65光年的毕宿五并不属于150光年远的 毕星团 。中心区域的毕星团成员 分布在大约15光年的范围内。 毕星团 形成于约6.25亿年前，它和巨蟹座中肉眼可见的疏散星团——蜂巢星团(M44)很可能有共同的起源，这一推断是基于M44在空间中的运动以及它们极其相近的年龄。