红外光波段的草帽星系

2023年8月13日

The Sombrero Galaxy in Infrared
Credit: R. Kennicutt (Steward Obs.) et al., SSC, JPL, Caltech, NASA

Explanation: This floating ring is the size of a galaxy. In fact, it is a galaxy — or at least part of one: the photogenic Sombrero Galaxy, one of the largest galaxies in the nearby Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. The dark band of dust that obscures the mid-section of the Sombrero Galaxy in optical light actually glows brightly in infrared light. The featured image, digitally sharpened, shows the infrared glow, recently recorded by the orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope, superposed in false-color on an existing image taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in visible light. The Sombrero Galaxy, also known as M104, spans about 50,000 light years across and lies 28 million light years away. M104 can be seen with a small telescope in the direction of the constellation Virgo.

Tomorrow’s picture: ring strings

红外光波段的草帽星系
影像提供: R. Kennicutt (Steward Obs.) et al., SSC, JPL, Caltech, NASA

说明: 这个飘浮的环之大小和星系相当。更具体的说，它就是草帽星系，或至少是草帽星系的一部分。很上相的草帽星系，则是我们附近的室女座星系团里最大的星系之一。而在可见光所见、环绕在草帽星系腰部的黝黑尘埃带，于红外光波段变得格外的明亮。这幅经过数字锐化的主题影像，整合了来自斯皮策太空望远镜所记录、并以假色呈现的红外光数据，以及NASA哈勃太空望远镜先前所拍摄的可见光照片。草帽星系又名为M104，离我们约有2千8百万光年远，大小约为5万光年。用小望远镜就能在北天的室女座方向见到M104。（Sombrero Galaxy 墨西哥帽星系、草帽星系或宽边帽星系）