金牛座的暗星云和恒星形成活动

2023年3月21日

Dark Nebulae and Star Formation in Taurus
Image Credit & Copyright: Vikas Chander

Explanation: Can dust be beautiful? Yes, and it can also be useful. The Taurus molecular cloud has several bright stars, but it is the dark dust that really draws attention. The pervasive dust has waves and ripples and makes picturesque dust bunnies, but perhaps more importantly, it marks regions where interstellar gas is dense enough to gravitationally contract to form stars. In the image center is a light cloud lit by neighboring stars that is home not only to a famous nebula, but to a very young and massive famous star. Both the star, T Tauri, and the nebula, Hind’s Variable Nebula, are seen to vary dramatically in brightness — but not necessarily at the same time, adding to the mystery of this intriguing region. T Tauri and similar stars are now generally recognized to be Sun-like stars that are less than a few million years old and so still in the early stages of formation. The featured image spans about four degrees not far from the Pleiades star cluster, while the featured dust field lies about 400 light-years away.

Tomorrow’s picture: an unusually distant swirl

金牛座的暗星云和恒星形成活动
影像提供与版权: Vikas Chander

说明: 尘埃可以很美吗？是的，而且它也很有用。金牛分子云拥有数颗明亮的恒星，但真正引人注目却是它黝黑的尘埃。这些无所不在带着波纹和涟漪的尘埃，形成了许多风景如画的尘埃棉絮球兔，但也许更重要的是，它标志着该处的星际气体密集到足以经由重力塌缩形成恒星。在这幅图像的中心，有一片受到邻近恒星照耀的淡色云，它不仅是一个著名星云的家，也是一颗非常年轻、质量巨大的著名恒星之家园。这颗金牛T型星及欣德变星云的亮度都会出现剧烈的变化，但未必会同步发生，而这更增添此区域的神秘性。金牛T型星及类似的恒星，现在咸认是稚龄不到数百万年的类太阳恒星，因此仍处于恒星形成的早期阶段。这幅跨度约为4度的主题图像，所呈现的大片尘埃位在昴宿星团附近，离我们约有400光年远。

明日的图片: an unusually distant swirl