韦伯望远镜的环状星云

2023年8月14日

The Ring Nebula from Webb
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, JWST; Processing: Zi Yang Kong

Explanation: The Ring Nebula (M57), is more complicated than it appears through a small telescope. The easily visible central ring is about one light-year across, but this remarkable exposure by the James Webb Space Telescope explores this popular nebula with a deep exposure in infrared light. Strings of gas, like eyelashes around a cosmic eye, become evident around the Ring in this digitally enhanced featured image in assigned colors. These long filaments may be caused by shadowing of knots of dense gas in the ring from energetic light emitted within. The Ring Nebula is an elongated planetary nebula, a type of gas cloud created when a Sun-like star evolves to throw off its outer atmosphere to become a white dwarf star. The central oval in the Ring Nebula lies about 2,500 light-years away toward the musical constellation Lyra.

Tomorrow’s picture: triple iced sky

韦伯望远镜的环状星云
影像提供: NASA, ESA, CSA, JWST; 影像处理: Zi Yang Kong

说明: 环状星云（M57）远比透过小望远镜所见的要复杂得多。通常轻易可见的是直径约1光年的中心环，然而，来自詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜的这幅精采长曝光红外影像，深入的探索了这个热门的星云。在这幅经过数字强化的代表色主题影像里，中心环周围清楚可见的气体丝，形似宇宙之眼的睫毛。而长线形的结构，或许是环内的致密气体结，遮挡来自内部的高能星光所产生的影子。环状星云是个细长形的行星状星云，为类太阳恒星演化抛出外层大气成为白矮星时，所产生的气体云。环状星云的中心椭圆结构，位在以乐器为名的天琴座方向约2500光年远之处。

明日的图片: triple iced sky