四边形星群: 猎户座大星云的能量核心

2024年1月5日

Trapezium: At the Heart of Orion
Image Credit & Copyright: Fred Zimmer, Telescope Live

Explanation: Near the center of this sharp cosmic portrait, at the heart of the Orion Nebula, are four hot, massive stars known as the Trapezium. Gathered within a region about 1.5 light-years in radius, they dominate the core of the dense Orion Nebula Star Cluster. Ultraviolet ionizing radiation from the Trapezium stars, mostly from the brightest star Theta-1 Orionis C powers the complex star forming region’s entire visible glow. About three million years old, the Orion Nebula Cluster was even more compact in its younger years and a dynamical study indicates that runaway stellar collisions at an earlier age may have formed a black hole with more than 100 times the mass of the Sun. The presence of a black hole within the cluster could explain the observed high velocities of the Trapezium stars. The Orion Nebula’s distance of some 1,500 light-years would make it one of the closest known black holes to planet Earth.

Tomorrow’s picture: snow day

四边形星群: 猎户座大星云的能量核心
影像提供与版权: Fred Zimmer, Telescope Live

说明: 在这张清晰宇宙影像中心附近的猎户座大星云核心区里，有4颗炽热大质量恒星所构成的四边形星群。而聚在半径约1.5光年区域里的这4颗星，更是这个猎户座紧密星团众多恒星中最引人注目的一群。在四边形星群之中，尤其是最明亮的恒星Theta-1 Orionis C，所发出的电离性紫外光，驱动了这个复杂的恒星形成区发出可见辉光。这个稚龄约3百万年的猎户星群，在形成之初时更密集，而最近的一项动力学研究指出，当初失控的恒星碰撞，可能产生了一个质量超过100倍太阳的黑洞。如果此星群内有黑洞，就能解释为何四边形星群成员星的运动会如此快速。猎户座大星云离我们约有1,500光年远，因此此黑洞可能是现知离地球最近的黑洞。（Trapezium 四边形星群）