速逃星紫微右桓六（少卫）

2023年4月28日

Runaway Star Alpha Camelopardalis
Image Credit: André Vilhena

Explanation: Like a ship plowing through cosmic seas, runaway star Alpha Camelopardalis has produced this graceful arcing bow wave or bow shock. The massive supergiant star moves at over 60 kilometers per second through space, compressing the interstellar material in its path. At the center of this nearly 6 degree wide view, Alpha Cam is about 25-30 times as massive as the Sun, 5 times hotter (30,000 kelvins), and over 500,000 times brighter. About 4,000 light-years away in the long-necked constellation Camelopardalis, the star also produces a strong stellar wind. Alpha Cam’s bow shock stands off about 10 light-years from the star itself. What set this star in motion? Astronomers have long thought that Alpha Cam was flung out of a nearby cluster of young hot stars due to gravitational interactions with other cluster members or perhaps by the supernova explosion of a massive companion star.

Tomorrow’s picture: ship-borne astronomy

速逃星紫微右桓六（少卫）
影像提供: André Vilhena

说明: 酷似在宇宙海洋中航行的船只，速逃星少卫（Alpha Cam 紫微右桓六）产生了这道优美的弓形艏波或船首波。这颗庞大的超巨星以每秒超过60公里的速度在太空中飞奔，并不停压缩其路径上的星际物质。在这片近6度宽视野中心的少卫，其质量大约是太阳的25到30倍，温度是太阳的5倍（30,000 K），而亮度则是超过50万倍。在长颈鹿豹座方向约4,000光年远处外的这颗恒星，也发出强烈的恒星风。少卫的弓形震波出现在离恒星本身约10光年远之处。是什么驱动这颗恒星如此高速运动呢？天文学家长久以来认为，少卫是因与附近原生年轻星团的成员之重力交互用而被抛掷出来的，而另一种可能则是受到大质量伴星的超新星爆炸之抛射。 （Alpha Camelopardalis Alpha Cam 少卫、紫微右桓六）

明日的图片: ship-borne astronomy