鲨鱼星云

2023年6月14日

The Shark Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Stephen Kennedy

Explanation: There is no sea on Earth large enough to contain the Shark nebula. This predator apparition poses us no danger as it is composed only of interstellar gas and dust. Dark dust like that featured here is somewhat like cigarette smoke and created in the cool atmospheres of giant stars. After being expelled with gas and gravitationally recondensing, massive stars may carve intricate structures into their birth cloud using their high energy light and fast stellar winds as sculpting tools. The heat they generate evaporates the murky molecular cloud as well as causing ambient hydrogen gas to disperse and glow red. During disintegration, we humans can enjoy imagining these great clouds as common icons, like we do for water clouds on Earth. Including smaller dust nebulae such as Lynds Dark Nebula 1235 and Van den Bergh 149 & 150, the Shark nebula spans about 15 light years and lies about 650 light years away toward the constellation of the King of Aethiopia (Cepheus).

Tomorrow’s picture: open space

鲨鱼星云
影像提供与版权: Stephen Kennedy

说明: 地球上没有海洋大到可以容下鲨鱼星云。不过，因为它是由星际气体和尘埃所构成的，因此这条幽灵般的猛兽对人类无害。这幅主题影像所呈现的黝黑尘埃，有点像雪茄烟雾，而且通常形成于巨星的低温大气里。这些尘埃与气体一同被排出，后来在引力的作用下聚成暗星云，而大质量恒星有时会以高能星光和高速恒星风为工具，在这些胎衣云上刻画出错综复杂的结构。恒星所散发的热除了会蒸发幽暗的分子云之外，也会激发周围的氢气发出泛红的辉光。在云气解体的过程中，类似地球天空中的水汽云，人类偶会在这些庞大星云里联想到熟悉常见的事物。其内有数个小尘埃云（Lynds暗星云1235、Van den Bergh 149和150）的鲨鱼星云，位在北天的仙王座方向，大小约为15光年，距离则在650光年左右。 (Shark nebula 鲨鱼星云)

明日的图片: open space