NGC 602: 牡蛎星团

2024年7月2日

NGC 602: Oyster Star Cluster
Image Credit: X-ray: Chandra: NASA/CXC/Univ.Potsdam/L.Oskinova et al;
Optical: Hubble: NASA/STScI; Infrared: Spitzer: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Explanation: The clouds may look like an oyster, and the stars like pearls, but look beyond. Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years distant, lies this 5 million year old star cluster NGC 602. Surrounded by its birth shell of gas and dust, star cluster NGC 602 is featured in this stunning Hubble image, augmented in a rollover by images in the X-ray by the Chandra Observatory and in the infrared by Spitzer Telescope. Fantastic ridges and swept back gas strongly suggest that energetic radiation and shock waves from NGC 602‘s massive young stars have eroded the dusty material and triggered a progression of star formation moving away from the star cluster’s center. At the estimated distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud, the featured picture spans about 200 light-years, but a tantalizing assortment of background galaxies are also visible in this sharp view. The background galaxies are hundreds of millions of light-years — or more — beyond NGC 602.

Tomorrow’s picture: open space

NGC 602: 牡蛎星团
影像提供: X射线: Chandra: NASA/CXC/Univ.Potsdam/L.Oskinova et al;
可见光: Hubble: NASA/STScI; 红外光: Spitzer: NASA/JPL-Caltech

说明: 这幅影像里的星云或许形似牡蛎，恒星则像珍珠，但也请欣赏更后方的天体。在离我们约20万光年远的银河伴星系——小麦哲伦星系之边缘，座落着NGC 602这个稚龄500万年的年轻星团。而在这幅来自哈勃望远镜的引人赞叹影像，以及组合自钱德拉天文台X射线波段和斯皮策望远镜红外光数据、为它增添风采的轮替影像里，NGC 602仍然包覆在孕育它们的壳层状气体和尘埃之内。在影像里，如梦似幻的云脊及后掠的尘埃和云气，暗示在NGC 602里，大质量年轻恒星所发出的高能量辐射和震波，已侵蚀了附近的尘埃，并触发从星云中心渐次向外蔓延的恒星诞生活动。以小麦哲伦星系所在的距离来估计，这幅主题影像涵盖了大约200光年的区域。此外，这张清晰的多波段彩色主题影像里，还可见到各式各样的迷人背景星系。这些背景星系的距离，至少要比NGC 602再远上数亿光年。