仙王座的NGC 7822

2022年1月20日

NGC 7822 in Cepheus
Image Credit & Copyright: Mark Carter

Explanation: Hot, young stars and cosmic pillars of gas and dust seem to crowd into NGC 7822. At the edge of a giant molecular cloud toward the northern constellation Cepheus, the glowing star forming region lies about 3,000 light-years away. Within the nebula, bright edges and dark shapes stand out in this colorful telescopic skyscape. The image includes data from narrowband filters, mapping emission from atomic oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur into blue, green, and red hues. The emission line and color combination has become well-known as the Hubble palette. The atomic emission is powered by energetic radiation from the central hot stars. Their powerful winds and radiation sculpt and erode the denser pillar shapes and clear out a characteristic cavity light-years across the center of the natal cloud. Stars could still be forming inside the pillars by gravitational collapse but as the pillars are eroded away, any forming stars will ultimately be cutoff from their reservoir of star stuff. This field of view spans about 40 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 7822.

Tomorrow’s picture: pixels in space

仙王座的NGC 7822
影像提供与版权: Mark Carter

说明: 炽热的年轻恒星和气体及尘埃柱，看似全都挤到NGC 7822之内。这个在散发明亮辉光的恒星形成区，位在北天仙王座的一团庞大分子云之边缘，离我们约有3,000光年远。而这幅彩色的望远镜影像，则突显了星云内明亮的云气脊和绵延的尘埃柱。在这张整合窄波段滤镜数据的影像里，来自原子氧、氢和硫的辐射，分别上色为蓝、绿与红色。这些辐射线及其色泽对应组合，造就了名闻遐迩的哈伯色表。这些原子辐射是受到炽热中心恒星的高能辐射之驱动，此外，恒星的强烈的恒星风和星光，也雕塑和侵蚀较致密的尘埃柱，并在诞生它们的云气里，清出了一个宽达数光年的特征性空穴。云柱之内，仍持续经由重力塌缩过程形成恒星之中，不过随着云柱侵蚀殆尽，任何还在形成中的恒星，都会失去造星物质的储存库。以NGC 7822的距离来推算，这张影像约莫涵盖40光年宽的区域。

明日的图片: pixels in space