船底座星云的尘埃山

2022年8月1日

Mountains of Dust in the Carina Nebula
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Proccessing: Javier Pobes

Explanation: It’s stars versus dust in the Carina Nebula and the stars are winning. More precisely, the energetic light and winds from massive newly formed stars are evaporating and dispersing the dusty stellar nurseries in which they formed. Located in the Carina Nebula and known informally as Mystic Mountain, these pillar’s appearance is dominated by the dark dust even though it is composed mostly of clear hydrogen gas. Dust pillars such as these are actually much thinner than air and only appear as mountains due to relatively small amounts of opaque interstellar dust. About 7,500 light-years distant, the featured image was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope and highlights an interior region of Carina which spans about three light years. Within a few million years, the stars will likely win out completely and the entire dust mountain will evaporate.

Tomorrow’s picture: saturnic lunacy

船底座星云的尘埃山
影像提供: NASA, ESA, Hubble; 影像处理: Javier Pobes

说明: 在船底座星云里，这场恒星与尘埃的战争，恒星占了上风。更精确地说，是刚诞生的大质量恒星之强烈星光和恒星风，逐渐把孕育它们的尘埃恒星育婴室蒸发掉及吹散。这些位在船底座星云内、昵称为神秘山的尘埃柱，绝大部分的成分是透明的氢气，但其外观却是受到黝黑尘埃的主导。这种尘埃柱其实比空气还要稀薄，之所以看来像山峰，只因为它们含有相对少量的不透光星际尘埃。这张哈勃太空望远镜主题影像，突显了约7,500光年远的船底座星云内约3光年的区域。在数百万年之内，恒星很可能就会完全胜出，而这座尘埃山可能也会蒸发殆尽。

明日的图片: saturnic lunacy