NGC 1365: 壮丽的宇宙岛

2021年01月08日

NGC 1365: Majestic Island Universe
Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby, Leonardo Orazi

Explanation: Barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365 is truly a majestic island universe some 200,000 light-years across. Located a mere 60 million light-years away toward the chemical constellation Fornax, NGC 1365 is a dominant member of the well-studied Fornax Cluster of galaxies. This impressively sharp color image shows the intense, reddish star forming regions near the ends of central bar and along the spiral arms, with details of the obscuring dust lanes cutting across the galaxy’s bright core. At the core lies a supermassive black hole. Astronomers think NGC 1365’s prominent bar plays a crucial role in the galaxy’s evolution, drawing gas and dust into a star-forming maelstrom and ultimately feeding material into the central black hole.

Tomorrow’s picture: light-weekend

NGC 1365: 壮丽的宇宙岛
影像提供与版权: Mike Selby, Leonardo Orazi

说明: 棒旋星系NGC1365是个大小约为200,000光年的宇宙岛。位于天炉座方向6千万光年远处的NGC 1365，是我们熟知的天炉座星系团里，最重要的成员星系之一。在这张精采清晰的彩色影像里，可以看到在核心棒末端和螺旋臂上，都有鲜明的恒星形成区，而切过星系明亮核心的尘埃带，细微的结构也都清楚可辨。而在星系的核心，则藏着一颗超大质量黑洞。天文学家认为NGC 1365明显的星系棒，在星系演化中扮演着很重要的角色，它驱动气体和尘埃聚成恒星形成区，并提供物质喂食位在星系核心的黑洞。

明日的图片: light-weekend