船帆分子云脊上的NGC 2626

2023年2月4日

NGC 2626 along the Vela Molecular Ridge
Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby & Mark Hanson

Explanation: Centered in this colorful cosmic canvas, NGC 2626 is a beautiful, bright, blue reflection nebula in the southern Milky Way. Next to an obscuring dust cloud and surrounded by reddish hydrogen emission from large H II region RCW 27 it lies within a complex of dusty molecular clouds known as the Vela Molecular Ridge. NGC 2626 is itself a cloud of interstellar dust reflecting blue light from the young hot embedded star visible within the nebula. But astronomical explorations reveal many other young stars and associated nebulae in the star-forming region. NGC 2626 is about 3,200 light-years away. At that distance this telescopic field of view would span about 30 light-years along the Vela Molecular Ridge.

Tomorrow’s picture: moon by planetlight

船帆分子云脊上的NGC 2626
图像提供与版权: Mike Selby & Mark Hanson

说明: 这幅色彩缤纷的宇宙画布中心的NGC 2626，是一团在南天银河里的美丽、明亮泛蓝反射星云。它位于名为船帆分子云脊的尘埃分子云复合体之内，其旁有一团不透光的尘埃云，周围环绕着来自庞大H II区RCW 27的泛红氢辐射。NGC 2626本身则是星际尘埃云，正不停反射星云内嵌的年轻炽热恒星所发出的泛蓝星光。而天文探索显示，在这个恒星形成区里，还散布着许多其他年轻恒星及相关的星云。NGC 2626距离我们有约3,200光年；以这个距离来换算，这片望远镜视野涵盖船帆分子云脊约30光年的区域。

明日的图片: moon by planetlight