NGC 2440: 新白矮星的茧

2023年12月24日

NGC 2440: Cocoon of a New White Dwarf
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing: H. Bond (STScI), R. Ciardullo (PSU), Forrest Hamilton (STScI)

Explanation: What’s that in the center? Like a butterfly, a white dwarf star begins its life by casting off a cocoon of gas that enclosed its former self. In this analogy, however, the Sun would be a caterpillar and the ejected shell of gas would become the prettiest cocoon of all. In the featured cocoon, the planetary nebula designated NGC 2440 contains one of the hottest white dwarf stars known. The white dwarf can be seen as the bright orange dot near the image center. Our Sun will eventually become a white dwarf butterfly, but not for another 5 billion years.

Tomorrow’s picture: mansion mountain moon

NGC 2440: 新白矮星的茧
影像提供: NASA, ESA, Hubble; 影像处理: H. Bond (STScI), R. Ciardullo (PSU), Forrest Hamilton (STScI)

说明: 这幅影像中心的天体是什么？就像蝴蝶一样， 白矮星也会抛开包裹自己的气体茧，“破茧而出”开启另一段生命之旅。在这种类比中，我们的太阳会是毛毛虫，而被抛出的气壳为最美丽的蝴蝶。上图里的“茧”是名为NGC 2440的行星状星云，它的内部有目前所知最炽热的白矮星之一。而在这张影像中心附近的橙色亮斑，即为这颗白矮星。我们的太阳再过五十亿年，也会变成一只 “白矮星蝴蝶”。

明日的图片: mansion mountain moon